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look2it	Around the Kitchen Table Posted: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 12:30 AM BB, forget to look at your calendar today?  CJ, I guess she could even do it the mootsie way, if mootsie had a way. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 11:10 AM The prosecution of the former government of Iraq received a blow today: 2 Members of Hussein Tribunal Are Assassinated in Baghdad. The judge, Parwiz Muhammad Mahmoud al-Merani, 59, was killed a day after the Iraqi special tribunal announced the first charges in the approaching trials of former senior officials in Mr. Hussein's government. His son, Aryan Mahmoud al-Merani, 26, who also worked at the tribunal as a lawyer, was killed with him, according to officials at Iraq's Interior Ministry. Three men drove up and fired automatic weapons at the two men around 9 a.m. as they stood outside their family home in Adhamiya, a largely Sunni Arab neighborhood that has been a center of insurgent activity. Witnesses saw the attackers speeding away in a green Opel sedan without license plates, the officials said. When George W. Bush said that a mere "handful" of Iraqis opposed our efforts to install a new government there, it seems that he was again "misunderestimating" the insurgency. Saddam Hussein arose from the Iraqi people and could not have maintained power without a strong base of support. As demonstrated by the insurgency, Iraqis are clearly not afraid to fight and die for causes they truly believe in. The Iraqi people themselves bear the responsibility for letting Saddam Hussein come to power. Now they bear the shame for not getting rid of him themselves. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,257 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 671 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
look2it	Evolution Posted: Thursday, March 03, 2005 12:04 AM mootsie, guess your next rant is still evolving. Are you creating some intelligently designed comments to beat on BT and CJ with? G'night, and watch for ice tomorrow.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:31 AM President Bush has stopped pretending that Iraq ever threatened us with weapons of mass destruction, but our soldiers keep dying in Iraq nevertheless: After 3 more killed, U.S. troop deaths in Iraq tops 1,500; car bombs explode in capital. The latest reported American deaths brought the toll to 1,502 since the United States launched the war in Iraq in March 2003, according to the AP count. The military said two U.S. troops died Wednesday in Baghdad of injuries suffered when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle. Another soldier was killed the same day in Babil province, part of an area known as the ''Triangle of Death'' because of the frequency of insurgent attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,258 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 672 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Thursday, March 03, 2005 9:33 AM When Bush took office in 2001, Clinton had succeeded in stopping the rampant stealing from our children and grandchildren promoted by his predecessors in the decade before he took office. George W. Bush immediately resumed the stealing (the one 2000 campaign promise he was determined to fulfill), and now we are back to record deficits. To mollify the American people last year, George W. Bush promised that--one year after he left office--his stealing would be reduced by 50%. He "forgot" to mention, though, that he still planned to continue to steal more and more during his four years in office, leaving to the next president the problem of cutting the stealing by 50% in one fiscal year. Even conservative Republicans like Alan Greenspan continue to call attention to the fiscal problems inherent in the rampant stealing practiced by George W. Bush and his cronies: Greenspan Says Federal Budget Deficits Are 'Unsustainable'. The Fed chairman's tone, as he addressed the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, was noticeably more urgent than it was last year or even in Congressional hearings just a few weeks ago. "When you begin to do the arithmetic of what the rising debt level implied by the deficits tells you, and you add interest costs to that ever-rising debt, at ever-higher interest rates, the system becomes fiscally destabilizing," he told lawmakers. "Unless we do something to ameliorate it in a very significant manner," he added, "we will be in a state of stagnation." ... Mr. Greenspan's comments deepened a long-running disagreement between the Federal Reserve and the White House, and they come at a moment when House and Senate leaders are trying to hammer out a budget resolution or blueprint for tax and spending bills this year. Mr. Greenspan, a Republican, has long argued that Congress should reinstate rules that would require lawmakers to offset the cost of tax cuts and new spending programs with savings in other areas. Asked about Greenspan's comments as he left for another vacation, Bush grinned and winked, "Arithmetic? Alan must be getting soft in the head. Only liberals believe in arithmetic." Been There
look2it	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Friday, March 04, 2005 12:22 AM So arithmetic is just for liberals? How 'bout carpenters? G'night.
Been There	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Friday, March 04, 2005 9:13 AM Look2It, Not only carpenters but folks with any kind of business depend on arithmetic. I kind of doubt they are all liberals, just practical people.   Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Friday, March 04, 2005 9:17 AM Almost five weeks after the Iraq elections, no prime minister has been named. The backroom dealing continues at a furious pace. So does the violence outside the green zone: 6 Iraqi Policemen Killed in Bomb Attacks. Six police officers were killed and 15 wounded in new car bomb attacks on Iraq's security services, as political factions wrangled over putting together a government. As Bush's war to save our country from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction drags on, our military's capability to handle other threats--real threats--diminishes. Many young people will risk their lives to protect our country from harm, but fewer relish the idea of dying to correct the political mistakes of people in other lands: Army Officials Voice Concern Over Shortfall in Recruitment. The Army is so short of new recruits that for first time in nearly five years it failed in February to fill its monthly quota of volunteers sent to boot camp. Army officials called it the latest ominous sign of the Iraq war's impact on the military's ability to enlist fresh troops.   "We're very concerned about it," Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday when asked about recruiting shortfalls in the active-duty Army and Army Reserve. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,259 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 673 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Friday, March 04, 2005 9:18 AM "Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."   - George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2004
Been There	Death With Dignity Posted: Friday, March 04, 2005 9:50 AM Folks in Cornwall, Connecticut are upset with government busibodies interfering in an intensely private matter: For Role in Suicide, a Friend to the End Is Now Facing Jail. It seems no one in this tiny town believes a crime was committed on the morning last June when Huntington Williams cleaned a revolver and advised his old friend John T. Welles where to aim. Mr. Welles, 66, was dying of cancer and, according to a police report, wanted to make sure he killed himself with one clean shot. ... More than seven months after Mr. Welles committed suicide, a state prosecutor charged Mr. Williams with second-degree manslaughter, citing what state police investigators said Mr. Williams had told them about Mr. Welles's last day and a state law that specifically addresses assisted suicide. The felony charge could bring 10 years in prison. Mr. Welles, a colorful and beloved local figure who never married, never held a steady job and walked barefoot in the summer, talked openly and unemotionally about killing himself if he became incapacitated. Yet while his suicide may not have been surprising, the arrest of Mr. Williams stunned many people in Cornwall, population 1,434, a wooded cluster of villages in northwest Connecticut. Friends and relatives of both men say that the role Mr. Williams played in Mr. Welles's final moments was a merciful one. They say a rich life ended in a moment of deep friendship and self-determination. People whose religions warn them against controlling their own bodies and their own destinies are free to follow their consciences. It's sheer arrogance and pride, however, when they insist on forcing their religious ideas on those who disagree. Been There
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Saturday, March 05, 2005 12:14 AM BT, must be the at whim of a cowboy hat.  mootsie, you are thinking a long time on your evolution answers. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Saturday, March 05, 2005 8:50 AM As the Iraq war goes on--as with any war--more and more tragic incidents occur: Italian Hostage, Released in Iraq, Is Shot and Wounded by G.I.'s. American soldiers guarding a checkpoint here fired Friday night on an approaching car carrying a kidnapped Italian journalist who had just been released, wounding the journalist and killing an Italian intelligence agent, according to American and Italian officials.   The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said in Rome that the intelligence agent had been instrumental in negotiating the release of Giuliana Sgrena, the abducted journalist. Two other intelligence agents in the car were wounded in the shooting, Mr. Berlusconi said. ... The intelligence agent who was killed, Nicola Calipari, had hurled himself atop Ms. Sgrena to protect her, Ms. Sgrena's editor, Gabriele Polo, told Apcom, an Italian news agency. War should always be a last resort. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,260 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 674 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Saturday, March 05, 2005 8:51 AM Articulating our Iran policy: "Secondly, the tactics of our—as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's—ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions—you can't—we're out of sanctions."   - George W. Bush, Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005 12:00 AM BT, stick with the funnier quotes. This one is too scary. G'night.
Been There	Evolution Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005 10:20 AM Moots, More evidence for evolutionary development appeared in the news today: Scientists may have found bones of first walking hominid. A team of U.S. and Ethiopian scientists has discovered the fossilized remains of what they believe is humankind's first walking ancestor, a hominid that lived in the wooded grasslands of the Horn of Africa nearly 4 million years ago.    The bones were discovered in February at a new site called Mille, in the northeastern Afar region of Ethiopia, said Bruce Latimer, director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the U.S. state of Ohio. They are estimated to be 3.8-4 million years old. Last month, you raised the following objection to evolution: I doubt there's enough time for random chance and energy to produce the level of complexity and information contained in any living organism. But why wouldn't 4 million years be plenty of time for us to evolve from a walking hominid to a modern human? Even reckoning very conservatively, over 250,000 generations have been born since then. After answering your questions about evolution last month, I asked some questions in return: Why shouldn't we accept that God wants us to collect the evidence available and draw the inevitable concusions from it? Do you have an example of an "irreducible complexity" that, to your way of thinking, contradicts evolution? I'm still waiting for your answers. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005 10:21 AM "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."   - George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., August 5, 2004
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 07, 2005 12:03 AM BT, looks like you've run 'em all off. Was it something you said? Here's my tip for the day - be real careful at checkpoints. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Monday, March 07, 2005 9:26 AM Waiting for the new Iraqi government to take shape, we see no decrease in the violence in there: Insurgent Attacks in Iraq Kill at Least 24. Guerrillas launched a series of attacks in Iraq on Monday that left 24 people dead and dozens wounded as the country took its first major step toward forming a government whose most crucial task will be dealing with the insurgency. Many of the U.S. deaths in the Iraq war occurred because of planning and procurement problems that could have been avoided if President Bush had not rushed us into war: Many Missteps Tied to Delay in Armor for Troops in Iraq. In all, with additional paperwork delays, the Defense Department took 167 days just to start getting the bulletproof vests to soldiers in Iraq once General Cody placed the order. But for thousands of soldiers, it took weeks and even months more, records show, at a time when the Iraqi insurgency was intensifying and American casualties were mounting. By contrast, when the United States' allies in Iraq also realized they needed more bulletproof vests, they bypassed the Pentagon and ordered directly from a manufacturer in Michigan. They began getting armor in just 12 days. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,262 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 676 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 07, 2005 9:27 AM "Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."   —George W. Bush, Austin, Texas, Dec. 20, 2000
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 12:43 AM BT, laughed till I cried. Great quote. Got any more like that one? G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 5:59 PM Iraqis have complained time and time again about soldiers gunning them down without warning at suddenly-established military checkpoints. Now that a European has died at one of those checkpoints, the matter is being investigated: Italy Demands Justice from U.S. Over Iraq Death. The killing has strained ties between the United States and Italy, which has been one of President Bush's staunchest allies in Europe over the war in Iraq. The United States invited Italy on Tuesday to participate in an already-announced military inquiry into the incident, a move immediately welcomed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The investigation, which will also review procedures at military checkpoints in Iraq, aims to be finished within 3-4 weeks. The disparity in the Bush administration's reaction to the death of a single European weighed against hundreds of Iraqis who suffered the same fate was not lost on the Iraqi people. The longer an occupying force remains in a conquered nation, the greater the hatred for that force grows. "Unfortunate incidents" always occur during war and occupation, and those incidents inevitably color the perceptions of the people living under occupation. Also in the Middle East, another huge demonstration occurred in Lebanon today: Hizbollah Draws Vast Pro-Syrian Crowds in Beirut. Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese flooded central Beirut on Tuesday for a pro-Syrian rally called by Hizbollah that dwarfed previous protests demanding that Syrian troops quit Lebanon. Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah urged the Lebanese opposition to join a national unity government and reject a U.N. demand for the Syrians to leave and his own militia to disarm. "We call ... for the formation of a government of national unity and we ask the opposition to join it," he told the rally. Nasrallah said no one in Lebanon feared the United States, whose troops left Beirut in 1984, a few months after a suicide bomber killed 241 Marines at their headquarters in the capital. "We have defeated them in the past and if they come again we will defeat them again," he said, drawing chants of "Death to America" from the sea of demonstrators. President Bush flatly opposed the position of the Lebanese demonstrators: Bush Demands Syria Out of Lebanon by May. "All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for those elections to be free and fair," Bush said. McClellan said if Syria refused "then, obviously, you have to look at what the next steps are." Options could include a new U.N. Security Council resolution and the threat of international sanctions. Anyone care to predict the outcome of this confrontation? We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,263 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 677 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 6:01 PM "Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious—I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well."   —George W. Bush, Miami, Fla., June 4, 2001
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 12:05 AM BT, shows what happens to someone's brain when they do too much heavy stuff while they're finding themselves. You have to laugh, but there's a sad note too. G'night.   PS, what's this "hemisphere" fixation?
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 11:51 AM "The Senate needs to leave enough money in the proposed budget to not only reduce all marginal rates, but to eliminate the death tax, so that people who build up assets are able to transfer them from one generation to the next, regardless of a person's race."   —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 5, 2001
nm420	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 1:36 PM l2, the lack of displayed intelligence is not necessarily from doing "too much heavy stuff". The man could have just been born with less-than-par grey matter. Though it probably helps to be a little slow when you're just acting as a frontman.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 2:39 PM Still no word on the formation of the new Iraqi government. Still plenty of word concerning the ongoing war there: Violence Continues to Ripple Through Iraq; Another U.S. Soldier Blown Up. Insurgents launched a series of attacks today that left at least 10 people dead, including two suicide car bombings in central Iraq and an assault on a police patrol in the southern city of Basra, where violence has been rare in recent weeks. ... An American soldier was killed in Baghdad when his patrol struck a roadside bomb at about 3:30 p.m., American military officials said. Elsewhere in the capital, gunmen fired at a minibus carrying employees of a Kuwaiti company as it traveled through central Baghdad, killing one of the passengers and injuring three. I wonder when President Bush will pledge to get Abu Musab al-Zarqaw "dead or alive." We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,264 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 678 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2005 12:30 AM nm, maybe so, but he talks like a guy I know fried his brain. Must drive his handlers crazy. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2005 9:15 AM What's happening in Iraq today? More violence: Insurgents Posing as Police Kill Baghdad Officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed Obeis, traveling to work at Salhiya police station in central Baghdad, was shot dead along with two other policemen while one guerrilla filmed the attack. "On March 10 an al Qaeda team set up a checkpoint in the Ilam district and lay in wait for an officer in the Interior Ministry intelligence branch who used to investigate and harm mujahideen," al Qaeda in Iraq said in an Internet statement. "When he pulled out his identity papers the mujahideen riddled him with bullets, killing him." We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,265 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 679 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2005 9:18 AM We all like tax cuts--more money in our pockets--so they are always an easy sell for the dishonest politician. One sure way to tell an honest politician is that he or she will always propose spending cuts before cutting a like amount of taxes. I think it is fair to say that any politician--democrat, republican, green, or miscellaneous--who proposes tax cuts without first specifying exactly what cuts must be made at the same time--is a common thief. And I think, deep down, everyone knows I'm right about that. I think every voter who supports a politician who proposes tax cuts without matching spending cuts is a voter who can be bought for a few dollars. Such voters--and there are many today--don't mind selling out their children and grandchildren and future generations for a few extra bucks in their pockets now. And I think, deep down, everyone knows I'm right about that. Although it's difficult to buck their commander-in-thief, some republicans have been muttering lately about the president's current demands that they increase the stealing to even more preposterous levels: G.O.P. Senators Balk at Tax Cuts in Bush's Budget. President Bush's plan to extend his tax cuts over the next five years ran into resistance in the Senate on Wednesday as Republican leaders offered a budget for 2006 that would undo more than a fourth of the cuts that Mr. Bush has requested. The problem is that most republicans (and democrats) in congress don't want to make the cuts needed to match the tax cuts already passed. When asked if she would support extending the tax cuts, Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the Maine Republican who is an influential member of the Finance Committee, said, "Suffice it to say, I do have serious concerns with the fundamental priorities that are being constructed in the budget." She added, "It's exacting a high price from some of the programs that are critically important to the future." Senator Lincoln Chafee, the Rhode Island Republican who has warned about the federal deficit, said, "I've been consistently opposed to tax cuts when at the same time we're not controlling our spending, and I don't think this year will be any different." In fact many republicans, including Norm Coleman of Minnesota, want to increase federal spending, not decrease it. But as details of the budget plans emerged on Wednesday, it became clear that meeting Mr. Bush's spending goals could prove a difficult task, not only because of the tax issue but because many lawmakers are pressing to restore Mr. Bush's proposed cuts in domestic programs. Among them is Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, who has gathered signatures of 57 senators to fight for urban renewal grants, which Mr. Bush proposes to cut. Will the commander-in-thief get his way again? Probably. Everyone who voted for him owes an apology to the future generations who'll wind up paying the piper for his actions. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2005 9:22 AM "I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."   —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004
nm420	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2005 2:16 PM I think, deep down, everyone knows that we're on a sinking ship. A superviser I used to work with had a phrase which applied to our society: "We're just pushing around chairs on the Titanic." We all have to pretend like everything is hunky-dory and make to look busy in case anyone is watching, but when you scratch the thin layer of veneer it is obvious that the domestic and international policies our society tolerates are taking us all on a downward spiral, due in no small part to the above-mentioned politicians and voters (though certainly not exclusively). A quite natrual reaction to this reality is to simply deny its existence and live in a fantasy world where the present is divorced from the past. Unfortunately, it's also a quite fatal reaction.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Friday, March 11, 2005 12:42 PM While the newly-elected Iraqis bicker over who will lead their new government, the death toll continues to mount: Toll from Blast in Iraq's Mosul Reaches 50 -- US Army. The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on the funeral of a respected Shi'ite professor in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has reached 50, with nearly 80 wounded, the U.S. military said Friday. The suicide bomber walked into a large crowd at the funeral in a tent at the mosque compound Thursday evening and then detonated an explosive belt in the latest attack on the newly empowered majority that was oppressed under Saddam Hussein.   Doctors said the toll could rise further, and added that several children who had been at the funeral were missing. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,266 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 680 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Friday, March 11, 2005 12:43 PM Nm420, As citizens, we still have the right to retake our government from the crooks in power, and we bear the responsibility for doing so. Whether or not we will remains to be seen. When a country like ours wields a huge amount of power in the world, both economic and military, it has a special responsibility to exercise that power in a benign manner. We have the right to vote, yes, but most of the people affected by our power do not. What does it mean to say that our country is a democracy when most of the people affected by its actions have no say in what it does? It is easy to foresee a time when the balance of power has changed. China, for example, could well surpass us in both military and economic strength in a couple of decades. So could a united Europe. When the shoe is on the other foot, would the Chinese and Europeans be justified in overturning our government to protect the world from our overconsumption of finite resources, our rampant polution of the air and water, and our arrogant military actions? Something to consider. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Friday, March 11, 2005 12:45 PM "There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep thought of all... I can't think of anything more deep than that right." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2005 5:39 PM The reality of a another American family was shattered today in George Bush's war to rid Iraq of its imaginary weapons of mass destruction: As Iraq Ponders Government, U.S. Soldier Dies. As of Friday, at least 1,513 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,267 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 681 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2005 5:40 PM "I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."   —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Sunday, March 13, 2005 6:47 PM While Iraqi politicians dither, others die: Talks on Iraq Government Fail Before Parliament; U.S. Soldier and 2 Contactors Killed. Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani's chief aide said: "The negotiations between the two sides have hit a dead end." Parliament's meeting Wednesday will take place more than six weeks after polls that gave many in Iraq hope a new authority would clamp down on suicide attacks, car bombs and execution-style killings by mainly Sunni Arab insurgents. Four bodies, three Iraqi soldiers and one policeman, were found on a farm in Latafiya, some 70 km (40 miles) south of the capital. An army officer said they had been shot in the head and chest two days ago. Their hands had been tied. ... In Mosul, a U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire on Friday, the American military said, and Saturday a roadside bomb killed two U.S. contractors south of Baghdad. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,268 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 682 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Sunday, March 13, 2005 6:48 PM "God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear." —George W. Bush, Los Angeles, California, March 3, 2004
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 14, 2005 12:38 AM BT, isn't Dubya the high and mighty one? Guess there's George the Father, George the Son and Jeb the Holy Spirit. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Monday, March 14, 2005 10:16 AM In the runup to the war on Iraq, the Bush administration claimed the attack was needed to save us from the threat of Iraq's weapons. Instead of securing known weapons sites after Saddam fell, however, the administration looked the other way while anti-American groups carried away those weapons to use against our troops: Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic. In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.   The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away. Dr. Araji said his account was based largely on observations by government employees and officials who either worked at the sites or lived near them. "They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," Dr. Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting." The threat posed by these types of facilities was cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but the installations were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months after the invasion. Dr. Araji's statements came just a week after a United Nations agency disclosed that approximately 90 important sites in Iraq had been looted or razed in that period. These bush-league blunders have cost the lives of hundreds our soldiers. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,269 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 683 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 14, 2005 10:17 AM "There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002
nm420	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Monday, March 14, 2005 10:46 AM BT, I could not blame any future superpowers from asserting their "right" to usurp our own government. It would merely be karma, and no one can escape that fate. In some sense, they would be more justified than any of our incursions if their reasoning was to protect the world from our overly wasteful ways. In all probability, however, in their rise to superpower status they will overuse global resources in a similar manner to our own. Perhaps not quite to the extreme levels we have, and perhaps not at all. Regardless, the cycle of empires rising and falling will continue until all of the people, in every pocket of the globe, take back the power. Until then, there will be no shortage of unscrupulous "leaders" who will build an empire in the name of the people.
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 1:36 AM From Mass Culture Reconsidered by Christopher Lasch (Democracy  magazine early 1980’s)        One of the most important advances in recent social theory is the discovery that modern technology reflects in its very design the need to assert managerial control over the labor force. A society in which political and economic power is concentrated in a small class of capitalists, managers, and professionals has invented appropriate forms of technology that perpetuate a hierarchical division of labor and weaken older patterns of mutuality and collective self-help.      Modern technology embodies by design a one-way system of management and communication. It concentrates economic and political control (and increasingly cultural control as well) in a small elite of corporate planners, market analysts and social engineers. It invites popular input or feedback in the form of suggestion boxes, market surveys and public opinion polls thus coming to serve as an effective instrument of social control in its own right—in the case of the mass media by short-circuiting the electoral process through opinion surveys that help to shape opinion instead of merely recording it, by selecting political leaders and spokesmen, and by treating the choice of leaders and parties as one more consumer decision. The mass media thus maintain a “permanent preventive counter-revolution”.      From this point of view, mass media need to be seen not as a conduit through which propagandists and advertisers manipulate public opinion but as a system of communication that systematically undermines the very possibility of communication and makes the concept of public opinion itself increasingly anachronistic. Mass communciation, like the assembly line, by its very nature reinforces the concentration of power and the hierarchical structure of industrial society. It does so by destroying collective memory, by replacing accountable authority with a new kind of star system, and by treating all ideas, all political programs, all controversies and disagreements as equally newsworthy, equally deserving of fitful attention, and therefore equally inconsequential and forgettable.      The mass media, in Todd Gitlin’s words, replace “authentic authority based on excellence of character, experience, knowledge and skill  with a new kind of pseudo-authority based on celebrity.”      The new media merely universalize the influence of the market, reducing ideas to commodities. Just as they transform the selection and certification of political leadership by substituting their own judgements of news-worthiness for popular accountability, so they transform the certification of literary or artistic excellence. Their insatiable appetite for novelty (old formulas in new packages, that is), their reliance on immediate recognition of the product, and their need for “annual ideological revolutions” make “visibility” the sole test of intellectual merit. Here as elsewhere, journalism no longer reports events, it creates them. It refers less and less to actual events and more and more to a circular and self-validating process of publicity, no longer presupposing a world which exists independently of the images made about it.      The Left needs to ally itself not with the mass media and other agencies of cultural homogenization, but with the forces in modern life that resist assimi-lation, uprooting and forcible modernization. True cosmopolitanism has to be rooted in particularism.      The experience of uprootedness leads not to cultural pluralism but to aggressive nationalism, centralization, and the consolidation of state and corporate power.   I.E. Local control, local control, local control!   Cheers, CJ
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:11 AM Violence still rages in Iraq: Car Bombs Explode Across Iraq; U.S. Marine Killed in Action. On Tuesday, a car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded on a road near the main avenue leading to Baghdad's international airport, police Capt. Thamir Talib said. Four civilians were killed and seven were wounded, including two police officers, he said. In a report unconfirmed by U.S. officials, witnesses said some U.S. troops were also wounded. When U.S. forces arrived on the scene to evacuate them, another car bomb exploded, wounding more troops. One Humvee was destroyed and two civilian cars were in flames, witnesses said. A U.S. military spokesman said he was checking into the report. Another suicide car bomb exploded in northeastern Baghdad, killing one child and wounding at least four people, including a police officer, police Col. Muhanad Sadoun said. The bomber was trying to hit a traffic police patrol but crashed into a tree, Sadoun said. Separately, a U.S. Marine with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died Monday in Anbar, a troubled province that has been a hotbed of guerrilla activity and includes the cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Qaim, officials said Tuesday. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,270 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 684 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Lebanon Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:13 AM Positive news from Lebanon today: Huge Demonstration in Lebanon Demands End to Syrian Control. Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition regained the momentum on Monday as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed Beirut's central square to demand the end to Syrian control of their country . Seemingly every available space in the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white Lebanese flag, in a showing that easily rivaled a pro-Syria rally last Tuesday organized by the radical Shiite party Hezbollah.    "We don't want Syrian spies and secret police; we don't want any foreign intervention," said Noha Dahir, a veiled 18-year-old Sunni Muslim student who came by bus from the northern city of Tripoli. "Those Lebanese who want the Syrians to stay can go live in Syria. There are plenty of Lebanese here to fill the country." The most notable element in the demonstration in Martyrs' Square was that it represented an exceedingly rare moment in which a broad cross section of Lebanese from every main sect - Christian, Druse, Shiite and Sunni Muslims - were all rubbing shoulders in the same space. Decades ago Lebanon was a wonderful country to visit. Perhaps that day will come again. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:13 AM "I mean, if you've ever been a governor of a state, you understand the vast potential of broadband technology, you understand how hard it is to make sure that physics, for example, is taught in every classroom in the state. It's difficult to do. It's, like, cost-prohibitive." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 24, 2004
Been There	Stealing from Our Children and Grandchildren Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:15 AM Nm420, You wrote: Regardless, the cycle of empires rising and falling will continue until all of the people, in every pocket of the globe, take back the power. Until then, there will be no shortage of unscrupulous "leaders" who will build an empire in the name of the people. We've had crooked leaders before and survived as a nation. As long as we can keep the electoral process honest, we have the possibility of correction. I see that as one of the key issues of our time, and I know you do too. Been There
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 10:16 AM Cousin Jack, Yes, local control of local matters--within overarching ground rules that protect citizens from governmental abuse--is of paramount importance. I'm not sure that this reduces to a "left" vs. "right" issue though. Both the left and the right strive to use state power to impose their policies on the people. This Lasch quote (from the early 1980s, you say?) is right on the mark today: Mass communciation, like the assembly line, by its very nature reinforces the concentration of power and the hierarchical structure of industrial society. It does so by destroying collective memory, by replacing accountable authority with a new kind of star system, and by treating all ideas, all political programs, all controversies and disagreements as equally newsworthy, equally deserving of fitful attention, and therefore equally inconsequential and forgettable. The fight today is to keep the Internet out of the control of governments and corporations and in the hands of everyone: the left-wingers, the right-wingers, the debra-wingers, and (in my case) the lunatic middle-wingers. Been There
tm	Stealing from children and grandchildren Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:28 PM The Arctic refuge is again in danger of useless, destructive drilling. If you care about not stealing from future generations, call your senators now and remind them to vote for the Cantwell amendment to strip Arctic Refuge drilling from the Senate budget resolution. A vote is expected in the Senate on Wednesday, March 16. You can the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 1-800-247-2971 (or 202-224-3121) and ask for your senators. If you are a Michigan resident, call Sen. Carl Levin's office directly at (202) 224-6221 or Sen. Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822. If you cannot call, send your senators a message at http://ga1.org/campaign/arcticsenate/inxxu74z7t8kmn. For a recent Washington Post article on this drilling issue, "Bush Steps Up Pitch for Drilling in Alaska Refuge," see http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=1642.
nm420	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 1:42 PM A very interesting book on the subject of technology and its role in societal control is Jerry Mander's "In the Absence of the Sacred." It questions the assumption that technology is morally neutral, with certain types of technology quite prone to abuse by systems of power and others more accessible to the common people.
look2it	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 12:56 AM BT, debra-wingers?   BTW, I like your shorter posts, I can get thru them. Guess moots must have found out that evolution is really true after all and doesn't know what to say now. G'night.
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 9:28 AM Look2It, The short posts are especially for you.   Please stop picking at Moots: lots of folks don't care to consider unwelcome information or questions, even when they've raised the topic themselves. Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 9:32 AM More than six weeks after the Iraq elections, the situation there remains violent: Iraqi Assembly Convenes Against Backdrop of Explosions; Another U.S. Soldier Killed. The meeting took place in the grim shadow of uncertainty, given that Dr. Allawi was still in power and a new transitional government had still not been formed by the time the assembly members convened. After weeks of negotiations, the major Shiite and Kurdish political parties had not been able to agree on how to cobble together a coalition government. Talks will continue later in the week, senior officials on both sides said, shrugging off the fact that the confidence of ordinary Iraqis in their elected leaders appeared to be eroding by the day. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Shiite nominee for prime minister, said in an interview that it would be "one or two weeks" before the announcement of a new government. ... The American military said a soldier on patrol was also killed Tuesday morning by a car bomb in Baghdad. Several other soldiers, Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi policeman were wounded, the military said. It was unclear whether this was the same attack that killed the four Iraqi civilians. While the war continues, the Muslim world reads news like this: U.S. Military Says 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide. At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military officials. The number of confirmed or suspected cases is much higher than any accounting the military has previously reported. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,271 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 685 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 9:33 AM "We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."   —George W. Bush, Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 3:22 PM Hi All:   Been There writes: Yes, local control of local matters--within overarching ground rules that protect citizens from governmental abuse--is of paramount importance. I'm not sure that this reduces to a "left" vs. "right" issue though. Both the left and the right strive to use state power to impose their policies on the people. Let me provide a little context here. Democracy was a fascinating if short-lived left-wing political journal published in the early to mid-1980's that wanted to point the Left in a new direction, a direction which the democratic party seems to be finally catching onto after 20 some years. The journal's  ideas grew somewhat out of the early idealistic "Port Huron Statement" New Left of the 1960's with its calls for "participatory democracy" and a political abandonment of the Liberal Technocracy which had taken control over American institutions and big businesses. From their inaugural 1981 issue here's a quote from the opening editorial by Sheldon Wolin titled Why Democracy?  [democracy (Gr. demokratia: demos, people + kratia, power)]:   The most significant political fact about contemporary American life today is the steady transformation of America into an anti-democratic society. Every one of the country's primary institutions--the business corporation, the government bureaucracy, the trade union, the research and education industries, the mass propaganda and entertainment media and the health and welfare system--is anti-democratic in spirit, design and operation. Each is hierarchical in structure, authority oriented, opposed in principle to equal participation, unaccountable to the citizenry, elitist and managerial, and disposed to concentrate increasing power in the hands of the few and to reduce political life to administration.   Democracy's antidote to this? A movement capable of offering a democratic alternative to corporate capitalism will have to draw on traditions dismissed by progressives and recently resurrected by scholars, environmentalist, community organizers and other activists. It will have to stand for the nurture of the soil against the exploitation of natural resources, the family against the factory, the romantic vision of the individual against the technological vision and localism over democratic centralism. After last fall's electoral defeat and with Howard Dean as the new DNC chairman, perhaps the democrats are finally starting to get it.     NM420:   I can recall reading Jerry Manders 4 Arguments For the Elimination Of Television back in the late 1970's (excerpts from it in the CoEvolution Quarterly). Of course this was back before the days of remote controls, mute buttons, VCR's , cable television (with some programming unmarbled by sales pitch and network promo propaganda) and Tivo; but many of his arguments about the nature of the medium still ring true. Here's a short quote from any interesting review of that groundbreaking tome: What makes television different from other forms of advertising, is that the viewer has absolutely no control over the images. Sure you can change the channel, but you're really only watching more of the same. The images come at you at the pace of the advertiser; the viewer just watches passively. While reading the newspaper, you don't have to look at the ads, you can turn the page. Fortunately the WWW operates more like a newspaper whose advertising does not stream at us in a sequential torrent which we are powerless to control (with the exception of pop-ads for which there are software cures and sites like Salon which often force you to navigate through an ad in order to read it).    Cheers, CJ
look2it	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 1:42 AM BT, short posts just for me? You are so nice! Why coddle mootsie though? He comes on strong, then wimps out. Notice the pattern? G'night.
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:31 AM Look2It, I always keep your interests at heart, as you must know by now! As far as "coddling" Moots goes, why keep punching at someone who has already thrown in the towel? Been There
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:33 AM Cousin Jack, Thanks for the context information. Viewed as a "new left" position, the quote is now perfectly understandable to me. I guess even radicals come up with good ideas sometimes. Been There
Been There	Stealing from children and grandchildren Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:34 AM TM, Although both Michigan Senators supported it, the Cantwell amendment lost 51-49: Senate Votes to Allow Drilling in Arctic Reserve. 6 republican senators supported the amendment also, but 3 democrats voted against it--enough to swing the vote. Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:37 AM With the deficits piling up, still more billions are going for the war: House OKs $81.4 Billion on War Spending. Just before Wednesday's vote, the House overwhelmingly approved an amendment that prohibited money in the bill from being used for torturing detainees in U.S. custody or for sending detainees to countries that engage in torture. The vote was 420-2. The Bush administration will now have to use other money for its torture work. Also excluded from the bill was the $590 million Bush requested to build a palatial embassy in Iraq: House members thought that one of Saddam's old palaces would be sufficient. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,272 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 686 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:38 AM "Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter." —George W. Bush, Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 2:32 PM Been There writes: I guess even radicals come up with good ideas sometimes.   Of course. In fact that's what most "radicals" do. And they've had names like Jesus, Lao Tzu, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Copernicus, Newton, Emerson, Einstein...etc etc btw Ye getteth the ever-turning picture?   Cheers, CJ
moots	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 4:14 PM Hi all,   I finally logged on these blogs after a few week's hiatus.  There's something about these faceless conversations that goes against my grain.  I noticed that I missed L2's attempts to elicit a response on evolution.  Sorry not to see the bait, this old trout just swam downstream into a nice pool to relax   I notice that CJ posted some interesting thoughts on the nature of technology. I'll have to read that more closely.   Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same.   Right now I'm more interested in tapping a few maples to make a small batch of  syrup than in arguing politics or origins.   I suspect that making syrup is not a totally insignificant contribution in revitalizing grass roots democracy.  Simple things like that connect us to the place we live and the people we live with.  I'm looking forward to seeing the first sparrow under my feeder and trying to find where the ravens and goshawks are nesting this year.  Life goes on, an unfolding miracle.   moots
moots	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005 5:30 PM CJ,   Just reread your excerpt from From Mass Culture Reconsidered by Christopher Lasch (Democracy  magazine early 1980’s)   The final line is a chunk to chew on   The experience of uprootedness leads not to cultural pluralism but to aggressive nationalism, centralization, and the consolidation of state and corporate power.   This reminded me of something I read somewhere about Hilter's Youth movement.  As I recall, it was designed to either subtly or overtly undermine family ties and allegiances, i.e, children respecting and obeying their parents (which has always been a good target to shoot at, no matter what you're selling), and transferring those allegiances to the State, personified by Der Furher.   Perhaps the brand/slogan clothing that we wear is symptomatic of an uprootedness - a longing to belong to something greater.  People perhaps identify themselves more with their hobbies, their sports teams, etc. than with their families.  How else do we explain our willingness to pay merchandisers for the privilege of advertising their product on our t-shirts, jackets, etc?   Any thots, anyone?   moots
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 2:14 AM Moots writes;   Perhaps the brand/slogan clothing that we wear is symptomatic of an uprootedness - a longing to belong to something greater.  People perhaps identify themselves more with their hobbies, their sports teams, etc. than with their families.  How else do we explain our willingness to pay merchandisers for the privilege of advertising their product on our t-shirts, jackets, etc?   Any thots, anyone?   Exactly, Moots! Hey Tommy Hilfiger et al your idiot huckster descendants, you've got it seriously backwards. If you want me to don one of your ugly condescending self-service billboard sweaters, you're going to have pay me to wear it.   Call my agent, eh? CJ
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:44 AM Moots, I'm with you 100% on the importance of family in counteracting both state and corporate power plays. Community plays an important role also, in my opinion. And making maple syrup is definitely a contribution too! Your mention of it brought back fond childhood memories of working with my father carrying buckets of sap and watching him boil it into that wonderful substance. Almost on a par with fishing as a father-son experience... Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:47 AM This weekend it will be two years since President Bush ordered our military to attack Iraq to protect us from their weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons were non-existent, as a competent commander-in-chief could have and would have determined before putting our troops in harm's way. Our young men and women--who signed up to defend our nation against real threats--bear the brunt of President Bush's failure: Un-Volunteering: Troops Improvise to Find Way Out. The night before his Army unit was to meet to fly to Iraq, Pvt. Brandon Hughey, 19, simply left. He drove all night from Texas to Indiana, and on from there, with help from a Vietnam veteran he had met on the Internet, to disappear in Canada. In Georgia, Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, whose family ties to military service stretch back to the American Revolution, filed for conscientious-objector status and learned that he will face a court-martial in May for failing to report to his unit when it left for a second stint in Iraq.   One by one, a trickle of soldiers and marines - some just back from duty in Iraq, others facing a trip there soon - are seeking ways out. Soldiers, their advocates and lawyers who specialize in military law say they have watched a few service members try ever more unlikely and desperate routes: taking drugs in the hope that they will be kept home after positive urine tests, for example; or seeking psychological or medical reasons to be declared nondeployable, including last-minute pregnancies. Specialist Marquise J. Roberts is accused of asking a relative in Philadelphia to shoot him in the leg so he would not have to return to war. When a war is waged under false pretenses, it is hard for those fighting to maintain a noble spirit. These soldiers come from all different towns, all over the country, but their reasons for wanting out echo one another. Some described grisly scenes from their first deployments to Iraq. One soldier said he saw a wounded, weeping Iraqi child whom no one would help; another said he watched as another soldier set fire to wild dogs just to pass time. ... "I had this vision that I'd be a good guy and defend my country. But killing people for something I don't believe in just to fulfill a contract just didn't seem right to me either." We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,273 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 687 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:50 AM "Obviously, I pray every day there's less casualty." —George W. Bush, Fort Hood, Texas, April 11, 2004
Been There	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 9:59 AM Cousin Jack,   Hmm. Most radicals come up with good ideas? Somehow I doubt that very much. Your list, impressive as it is, looks pretty selective. My gut feeling is that a few radicals of the many come up with a few really great ideas.   Been There
moots	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 11:31 AM CJ wrote   Exactly, Moots! Hey Tommy Hilfiger et al your idiot huckster descendants, you've got it seriously backwards. If you want me to don one of your ugly condescending self-service billboard sweaters, you're going to have pay me to wear it. I wish it were that simple.  It's easy to see the mote in our neighbor's eye, but not the plank in our own  (Jesus' woodworking experience comes out in this statement, btw).  We may not wear billboard sweaters, but I wonder how many of us are immune to clothing ourselves in a manner that identifies us with a larger group.  One can dress as a fisherman, or a musician, an executive or construction worker, or perhaps even as a computer geek, if that ever becomes cool.  The marketeers are not the root cause; I think it is a longing for significance - which induces us to "SIGN - ify" ourselves for public viewing.  Even the monikers we choose to use when scribbling on the walls of this outhouse say something about us.   Perhaps at its roots, grafiiti is the most honest communication medium we have.   moots
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 5:14 PM Been There writes:   Hmm. Most radicals come up with good ideas? Somehow I doubt that very much. Your list, impressive as it is, looks pretty selective. My gut feeling is that a few radicals of the many come up with a few really great ideas.   You're the one who introduced the word "radical" to the thread, BT. Just for the record, "radical" means "of or from the root or roots" so it does seem well chosen (though you seem to be putting a dismissive pejorative spin on it). Perhaps you should define the term as you're using it and give us a list of "radicals" who've come up with bad ideas (not "reactionaries" now, but "radicals"). My intended point was that "radicals" by their very nature are those people who actually come up with new ideas in many different fields of endeavor. Many of them are revolutionary and good. They overturn entrenched preconceptions and bring us closer to the real truth of things.  I could have made that list much much longer btw but time was short and I just wouldn't want to irritate L2    Cheers, CJ
Cousin Jack	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Friday, March 18, 2005 5:51 PM Personally I've always had an aversion to wearing messages or slogans of any kind on my clothing, Moots, as I don't like the idea of being a walking billboard (though I certainly have scratched on rocks and carved arrow-through-heart initials of true love on tree trunks in my younger years and fully agree with the graffiti impulse of which you speak). But creating clothing lines pre-branded with "designer" names is a cynical, self-serving and parasitic marketing ploy aimed at young people too naive to recognize it for what it really is (placing lamprey on a lake trout). They are capitalizing on (and perverting) the more profound impulses you describe about our natural human community need to identify with some group, team or even idea larger than just ourselves. Hence the foul satire of my post (a quaint sidebar which really doesn't do justice to the larger point you are making).   Cheers, CJ
look2it	Revitalizing Grass Roots Democracy Posted: Saturday, March 19, 2005 2:32 AM Mootsie, you found your way back out of the woods again! Hope the deer weren't holding you hostage this time looking for sweets. And sure now I be thanking you, Jack, for the consideration. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Saturday, March 19, 2005 10:50 AM Iraqis today celebrated the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on their country: Attackers Kill Four Iraqi Police Officers. Attackers gunned down a police officer heading to work Saturday in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, then bombed a funeral procession carrying his corpse, killing three other policemen and injuring two, officials said. The attacks came on the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion on March 19, 2003 and are typical of the violence that has become commonplace in Iraq. However, some of our top military leaders now "see the light at the end of the tunnel" in Iraq: Insurgency Is Fading Fast, Top Marine in Iraq Says. The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country. ... [A]lthough there are fewer lethal attacks in western Iraq, commanders say, remotely controlled bombs used against American and Iraqi forces in other parts of the country have become more deadly. Many bombs, for instance, are artillery shells strung together and buried under roadways. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a tour of Iraq and other Persian Gulf states this week that the number of attacks throughout the country had fallen to 40 to 50 a day - far fewer than in the weeks before the Jan. 30 elections but roughly the same number as a year ago. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,274 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 688 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Saturday, March 19, 2005 10:51 AM "See, one of the interesting things in the Oval Office - I love to bring people into the Oval Office - right around the corner from here - and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004
Been There	Science News Posted: Sunday, March 20, 2005 10:33 AM Content to focus his lame-duck second term on short-term politics and massive stealing from our children and grandchildren, George W. Bush happily defers the solution to looming environmental problems to our cash-strapped future generations: Climate Models Reveal Inevitability of Global Warming. The study results, published today in the journal Science, indicate that even if greenhouse gas levels had stabilized five years ago, global temperatures would still increase by about half a degree by the end of the century and sea level would rise some 11 centimeters.   "Many people don't realize we are committed right now to a significant amount of global warming and sea level rise because of the greenhouse gases we have already put into the atmosphere," says study author Gerald Meehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. "The longer we wait, the more climate change we are committed to in the future." Asked about this when he returned to Washington yesterday for a short interruption to his Texas vacation, Bush responded philosophically, "You see, I'm doing my part to build the character of America to come. Adversity builds character, and challenges are good things for young people to take on. That's what it's all about--overcoming challenges." Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Sunday, March 20, 2005 10:34 AM "My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 21, 2004
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 12:24 AM BT, you know what other Bush man Dubya reminds me of? Dan Quayle! Talks just like him. G'night.
moots	Ethanol Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 10:02 AM I read an interesting article about ethanol in a relatively recent (last year or so) issue of Audubon magazine by Ted Williams, in his regular Incite harangue.  According to Williams, ethanol takes 29% more energy to produce than it contains, factoring the petroleum based fertilizers, fuel used to cultivate & harvest corn, heat the distilleries, etc.  Apparently ethanol was useful as an oxygenate to help gasoline engines burn more cleanly back in the early nineties, but today's engines don't require it, as they have oxygen sensors that regulate the mix.  But once it became mandated as a necessary additive, the pork barrel effect kicks in.  Ethnanol production is profitable because of huge government subsidies, but corn growing is hard on the soil, requires lots of fertilizers, pesticides and contributes to topsoil loss.   The interesting thing is that because Iowa plays a big role in the primaries, all the politicians must pay homage to the sacred cow ethanol.  Even Minnesota, which seems to have an environmentally conscious citizenry, subsidizes ethanol production in a huge way.  Tom Daschle and Bob Dole were 100% for it, and Archer Daniels Midland, the largest producer of ethanol contributes hundreds of millions to both parties to keep the pork conveyor greased.   There's a moral here - what starts out sounding like a good idea - something to promote cleaner air, energy independence and agricultural prosperity - easily takes on a life of its own and entrenches itself  so deeply that all the king's horses and all the king's men are unable to knock Humpty off his throne.  I'm not sure that we are helpless victims of ourselves, but it sure seems that way sometimes, don't it?   moots
moots	random musings Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 12:55 PM BT,   I wonder if I could ask you a close-to-home question without sounding impertinent?  For whatever it's worth, let me say that I'm not trying to set you up.   Are you as hard on yourself as you are on Bush?  The thought occurred to me the other day that you are probably your own worst critic.  If that is correct, I guess I could understand (although perhaps not fully approve) your viewpoint.   Lest you feel left out, Look2it, do you have a clue why you hover at the fringe and snipe?  I suspect you don't.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy you - but something doesn't compute in my mind.  What's the point?   moots
Been There	Ethanol Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 2:55 PM Moots, I agree with you completely on the sacred cow ethanol. Once people start depending upon very specific laws like this to earn a living, the laws get so locked in it's extremely difficult to shed them later, no matter how illogical they are (or become). There are lots of other examples of this type of dependency in agricultural subsidies. Military spending gets bogged down with this too. The Pentagon often winds up paying for expensive weapons systems they don't need because influential people in congress insist on producing them to create jobs in their states and districts. And there is the devil to pay whenever the military needs to close an obsolete base, because the nearby towns have come to depend on it. Meanwhile, the soldiers putting their lives on the line get the short end of the stick, in my opinion. As far as being as hard on myself as I am on Bush, I can only say I try to identify and correct my shortcomings whenever possible. I know, of course, that I'm not immune from forming self-serving impressions and opinions, no matter how much I try to guard against them. Fortunately for me, I've found that many others have been willing to assist me in identifying my errors and self-serving notions over the years. Although I truly don't think he's a worthy president, I don't agree that I'm particularly hard on Bush. He's done a good job in some respects and I give him credit where I think it is due. I don't expect perfection, but I expect a president to do a good job in many more areas than has George W. Bush. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 2:57 PM "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country." —George W. Bush, Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.
moots	more random musings Posted: Monday, March 21, 2005 4:11 PM BT,   I must be losing my touch if we're in agreement on something.  I'll have to take you on your word about not being particularly hard on Bush because I may have missed something in your posts.   There is a certain logic of dependency that seems almost structural to human beings that causes us to pit short-term expediency against our long term welfare - which, in my view, is a direct manifestation of original sin, or our "darker angels" is CJ's phraseology.  We become prisoners of our own works, cleverness, ideologies, politics, language and economies.  These things are not the evils that need to be reformed and eradicated, the evil lies within us.   Fortunately that has already been done, about 2000 years ago, on a cross by one who proclaimed,  "It is finished."   A meaningful Holy Week to all of you,   moots
look2it	more random musings Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:08 AM mootsie, I speak my piece without going on and on about it. That's all. Nothing profound about being a windbag. G'night.
Cousin Jack	more random musings Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 3:08 AM Moots writes:   There is a certain logic of dependency that seems almost structural to human beings that causes us to pit short-term expediency against our long term welfare - which, in my view, is a direct manifestation of original sin, or our "darker angels" is CJ's phraseology.  We become prisoners of our own works, cleverness, ideologies, politics, language and economies.  These things are not the evils that need to be reformed and eradicated, the evil lies within us.   Fortunately that has already been done, about 2000 years ago, on a cross by one who proclaimed,  "It is finished."   Once again, Moots, my chosen phrase was "worse angels" and if you search the backlog on this you'll see that I'm accurate. Though I agree with your sentiments about our human failings, I wouldn't attribute that to an anachronistic abstract intellectual notion like "original sin" which was first formulated by those scientifically-challenged and largely well-meanng folk who penned the New Testament.   If it were "finished" then why are we still behaving so badly? As Darwin and Wallace so radically and empirically postulated, it's because "bad behavior" was reproductively successful (i.e. violence against non-alpha males, rape, pillaging, hoarding, harums...etc etc) Why do think the "Y" chromosome became that "tiny" thing which it's now become...   Happy Ishtar, CJ
moots	more random musings Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:00 AM CJ,   My apologies on the misquote.  I kind of like the ring of "darker angels" myself, so I guess your term was transmogrified in my memory. Here's a few thoughts in response to your other objections   Though I agree with your sentiments about our human failings, I wouldn't attribute that to an anachronistic abstract intellectual notion like "original sin" which was first formulated by those scientifically-challenged and largely well-meanng folk who penned the New Testament. They may have been scientifically challenged insofar as the scientific methodology that forms much of the basis of modern man's thinking had not been fully developed, but you must admit that the ancient world was populated by many intelligent people with finely developed minds.  The Apostle Paul, one of the chief authors of the NT was rigorously trained by some of the best minds of his day.   Regardless of the intentions, a large number of these well-meaning folk died horrific deaths rather than deny the veracity of what they believed true - that Jesus indeed rose from the grave.   If it were "finished" then why are we still behaving so badly?   Herein is the great mystery of faith.  By faith we stand perfected in God's sight and by faith the Life of Christ lives within us.  By faith we die with Christ and by faith we rise with Him into new life.  By faith we strive, as Paul did, to "attain that which lays before us." As Darwin and Wallace so radically and empirically postulated, it's because "bad behavior" was reproductively successful (i.e. violence against non-alpha males, rape, pillaging, hoarding, harums...etc etc) Why do think the "Y" chromosome became that "tiny" thing which it's now become...   The best that science can do is to postulate that we are normal and hopefully evolving toward something better (of which there seems to be scant evidence).  The Scripture submits to us that we are not normal, that normality in the Great Song is sinlessness.  If furthermore submits to us that we are dead and utterly incapable of attaining to that state.  Finally it offers the solution, death to the old human race, Adam, and the rebirth of the new human race, Christ.   The only way a dead man can rise is by hearing God's voice, as Lazarus did when Christ told him to rise.  God has chosen to bypass our intellect and go straight to our core through the "foolishness of preaching".  Go to a church and listen.  It's that simple.   I hope I don't come off arrogant or cut-and-dried - not that I'm not.  But there is something so incredibly beautiful about the gospel that I've gotta put in a plug for it.   Happy Ishtar to you too,   moots
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:34 AM The latest timetable for the formation of the new provisional government of Iraq is Saturday, eight weeks after the elections were held on January 30, 2005: Iraq Parliament to Start Forming Government by Saturday. The assembly's first working session will be held at the weekend after the Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs, who between them have the two-thirds majority needed to form a government, sign a declaration on the status of the oil city of Kirkuk and the role of Islam, they said. Meanwhile, violence continues to rack the occupied country: Wave of Attacks Kill 10 Iraqis, 2 U.S. Marines. A wave of attacks across central and northern Iraq left at least 10 Iraqis dead on Monday, a day after an American convoy fended off as many as 50 attackers in one of the fiercest firefights of recent months, right outside the capital. In the most devastating attack on Monday, a roadside bomb in Aziziya, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad, killed four women and three children, The Associated Press reported, citing a police captain. An Iraqi soldier in Sharqat, in the north, was killed by a mortar shell, and a soldier was killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Baghdad.   The Interior Ministry said a roadside bomb exploded next to an Iraqi Army convoy in Amariya, in Baghdad, killing one Iraqi soldier. An American marine was killed in combat on Sunday and another on Monday in Anbar Province, in western Iraq, the American military said. Tomorrow through September 5 Arlington National Cemetery will display a wonderful tribute to our soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: Artists Make Portraits of U.S. War Dead. "Faces of the Fallen," 1,327 individual portraits of the dead produced by 200 artists, opens to the public Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery.   The images, each 6-by-8 inches, are mounted on plain steel rods that reach to near eye level. Each rod includes a label with the soldier's name, hometown and date of death. Five rows are arranged chronologically by the soldiers' times of death and stretch along a half-circle inside the small museum at the entrance to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. The number of images does not represent all those killed -- that figure now is more than 1,600. ... One particularly poignant portrait was done by John R. Phelps, a Vietnam veteran chosen to design the World War II memorial in Lander, Wyo. He painted his son, Marine Pfc. Clarence Phelps, who died April 9 from head wounds. The artists, who donated their time and paid for all the materials, plan to give the portraits to the families when the exhibit is over... The exhibit is free, and I encourage anyone going to the capitol this spring or summer to see it. I intend to spend some time there.   We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,277 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 691 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:37 AM "Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a—you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004
Been There	People in the News Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:55 AM A former world champion made headlines again today: Iceland Granting Citizenship to Bobby Fischer, Held in Japan. Iceland's Parliament voted Monday to grant citizenship to the American chess star Bobby Fischer, laying the groundwork, his supporters said, for his release from the Japanese prison where he has been held since last summer. "We are most happy," said Einar Einarsson, a spokesman for a committee that has been trying to free Mr. Fischer from Japan, where he is being detained while he fights deportation to the United States.   Mr. Einarsson, who called Mr. Fischer "part of our modern saga and part of our recent history," said that the 62-year-old chess champion might be released "in only a few days" and that an Icelandic delegation planned to travel to Tokyo to escort him back to Reykjavik. In Washington, the State Department had no comment, although a spokesman noted that renunciation of American citizenship did not allow citizens to escape prosecution of crimes in the United States. The vote appears to be a resolution of sorts to the curious legal limbo that Mr. Fischer fell into in 1992 when, the United States says, he violated sanctions against Yugoslavia by accepting a $3.3 million fee to play an exhibition match there. Fisher's chess games include some true masterpieces. It's inspiring to play through them from time to time to remember their beauty and elegance. To call the man "difficult," however, is like calling Saddam Hussein "inconsiderate." Been There
moots	Spring is here! Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:04 PM Hear ye, hear ye!   I'd like to go on record in announcing the arrival of the first truly springlike day in the Copper Country!  The sky is cloudless, the air is balmy, the maple sap is running and our local pair of ravens are nesting near the same spot they nested last year.  For any poor slobs that live all year long in warm climes and and have never known how it feels to see the beginning of 200+ inches of snowmelt, allow me to pity you briefly at least.   You really ought to live in the land of the deferred spring.  It has been a long winter, hasn't it folks?   moots
look2it	Spring is here! Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 1:20 AM mootsie, it was cold in the morning but you did a fine job of warming it up. What is spring? BT, get back to the funny quotes and forget the scary ones. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:37 AM An interesting item from Iraq yesterday: Iraqi Civilians Fight Back Against Insurgents. Ordinary Iraqis rarely strike back at the insurgents who terrorize their country. But just before noon on Tuesday, a carpenter named Dhia saw a troop of masked gunmen with grenades coming toward his shop here and decided he had had enough. As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their Kalashnikov rifles and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,278 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 692 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Science in the News Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:46 AM Two fascinating science stories broke into the mainstream media today. One involves planets beyond our solar system; the other discovery is closer to home. It seems that alien planets made an important decision recently: Alien Planets Show Themselves for First Time. Astronomers said yesterday that they, or at least their telescopes, had laid eyes for the first time on planets beyond the solar system. Using the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and careful timing, teams studying two planets were able to distinguish the glow of the planets' infrared radiation from the overwhelming glare of their parent stars. Both planets are so-called hot Jupiters, massive bodies circling their stars in tight, blowtorching orbits and probably unfit for the kind of life found on Earth. I say that it's high time for other heavenly bodies use this as an example and come out of hiding as well. It's always good to see scientists agog--we can use their facial expressions in TV commercials. Plants, too, seem to have decided to reveal some new information: Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene. In a startling discovery, geneticists at Purdue University say they have found plants that possess a corrected version of a defective gene inherited from both their parents, as if some handy backup copy with the right version had been made in the grandparents' generation or earlier.     The finding implies that some organisms may contain a cryptic backup copy of their genome that bypasses the usual mechanisms of heredity. If confirmed, it would represent an unprecedented exception to the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century. Equally surprising, the cryptic genome appears not to be made of DNA, the standard hereditary material. It's hard for me to believe that God would invest us with curiosity and brain power and not want us to make use of both.  Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:49 AM "There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it." —George W. Bush, the White House, Jan. 31, 2001
moots	Science in the News Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 1:41 PM BT,   You actually interested me enough to log in on the NYT to read the article.  This may be a revealing comment The finding poses a puzzle for evolutionary theory because it corrects mutations, which evolution depends on as generators of novelty. Dr. Meyerowitz said he did not see this posing any problem for evolution because it seems to happen only rarely. "What keeps Darwinian evolution intact is that this only happens when there is something wrong," Dr. Surridge said. A lot of people have their careers and lives invested in Darwinism, just as many people had a huge stake in Marxist theory.  It should not be a concern of impartial science to "keep intact" any pet theory or model.  Interesting to see how this one plays out.   Regarding your remark It's hard for me to believe that God would invest us with curiosity and brain power and not want us to make use of both.   Do you think He desires that we should have any self-imposed limits in this regard?  We seem to have a talent for opening Pandora's boxes.  If our curiosity and brain power were matched with equivalent amounts of wisdom and humility, perhaps some of our endeavors would stop at certain thresholds.   moots
Cousin Jack	Science in the News Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 11:55 PM RNA may be the backup "D" drive involved here. There's still a lot we don't know about RNA's actual role in the passing on of genes from generation to generation, genetic repairs etc   Glad to see the Vernal Goddess (Eastre) has arrived in the Keweenaw. We had our nicest day of this new spring sprung down here in the Twin Cities today (in the 40's with a brighter sun than yesterday, so bright I got sunburned working outdoors). I can still recall the natural upsurge of joy I used to feel at spring's arrival in the Copper Country after a long hard winter fending off one too many Alberta Clippers with my roaring woodstove and giant aluminum snow scoop that rescued my car each morning from whatever great white drifting dunes had once again buried it. I can still recall April's penchant for blizzard cruelties as well. Come they have, and come they will (LOL). There's really nothing quite like living through the Keweenaw's yearly cycle.   CJ
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:30 AM BT, there you go! Priceless!   mootsie, back on evolution again? Does that mean you'll be off in the woods again for a couple of weeks? G'night.
moots	Spring Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 9:56 AM CJ,   You should write promotional literature for the chamber of commerce - you have described the agony and the ecstasy of our winters to a T.   So far so good with the maple syrup.  A friend of mine suggested a somewhat unorthodox method - instead of outright boiling the sap, he simmers it on his wood stove, continually adding sap until its thick enough to finish on an electric burner.  Since our primary heat source is our parlor stove, I decided to try the same thing.   I've a big pot on the stove which is not boiling but slowly evaporating.  It essentially replaces the cast iron kettle we had as humidifier.  Since it doesn't boil it isn't steaming up the house.  I think I need to get a second pot though, because I suspect I tapped too many trees (12) for my system, if the sap really starts flowing fast.  I have an old stove outside that I can jury rig to boil sap if need be.  I've got about 25 bucks into taps, tubing, drill bit, etc. and if I buy another pot for 20 I could qualify as a non-profit and file for some huge government subsidy similar to what the ethanol producers get.   L2, yes I'll probably go run and hide again when I'm in over my head.  I don't have BT's and CJ's encyclopedic knowledge base and by nature am more of a sprinter than a distance runner.  I tend to follow the advice given to Zorro - "Get in, make your "Z" and get out!"   moots
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:41 AM By Saturday we are supposed to know how the new government of Iraq, elected eight weeks ago, will look: Insurgents Target Iraqi and U.S. Forces. Insurgents kept up their campaign Thursday against Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops, targeting Americans with roadside bombs in the north and attacking Iraq's nascent army in the capital. ... Shiite Muslim and ethnic Kurdish parties, expected to announce within days the top leadership of their promised coalition government, say they're considering involving the Sunnis beyond even just the eventual writing of Iraq's constitution. The Sunnis, from whose ranks many insurgent fighters are believed drawn, largely stayed away from Iraq's historic Jan. 30 elections. Kurdish and Shiite negotiators say they're discussing handing a Sunni Arab the defense minister's post in an effort to include them in the process. An article today by professor David Fromkin discusses some of the difficulties many of us see with Bush's attempt to force our form of government on people in the Middle East: A Wall of Faith and History. But without depreciating the value of these halting first movements toward democracy, we should be aware of how limited - for a variety of reasons - they are. They may go in the right direction but are just at the beginning of the road, and most can be expected to encounter strong opposition before they move much further. A distinctive feature of the events of 1989 in Germany that is not found in the Middle East in 2005 is that those who manned the Berlin Wall were no longer willing to defend it. The Communist regimes had lost faith in communism and in themselves; they offered no resistance when the crowds pulled down the barricades. That is not true of our adversaries, or even many of our friends, today in the Middle East. The jihadists believe in their cause with a fanatic ardor. Taliban raiders continue to harass the democratically elected regime in Afghanistan. It is not clear whether armed groups will respect the Palestinian truce. And even if Syria should withdraw from Lebanon, the dictatorial regime in Damascus is not dissolving itself, as Moscow's did after 1989; on the contrary, any withdrawal would be part of a larger plan to consolidate its hold on domestic power. Nor are the forces on our side necessarily fighting for democracy, as they were in Berlin. The demonstrators in the streets in Beirut were not demanding democracy, but asking for independence - which is rather a different thing. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,279 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 693 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:43 AM "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for my predecessors as well." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2001
Been There	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:48 AM Moots, You wrote: A lot of people have their careers and lives invested in Darwinism, just as many people had a huge stake in Marxist theory.  It should not be a concern of impartial science to "keep intact" any pet theory or model. But, of course, impartial science does not try to "keep intact" any pet theory or model, as the article we're discussing demonstrates. Whenever scientists turn up facts that contradict a theory or model, that theory or model is either discarded or modified to fit the facts. This is as true of evolution as of any other scientific model. Individual scientists, being people after all, sometimes fight hard to keep younger scientists from modifying the particular discoveries that once brought them honor. However, in science, facts always win in the end. Marxism and Religion: Two Peas in a Pod? The practice of Marxism resembles the practice of religion rather than the practice of science. Adherents of Marxism argue endlessly about the "correct" interpretation of Marxist texts. There is always a tension between Marxist "purists" and "pragmatists" who want to move forward regardless of current Marxist dogma. The people who have a huge stake in a particular theory or model are those who oppose evolution because it contradicts a narrow view of certain biblical texts. Religious purists seem compelled to shoehorn God into their own concept of how things should be done. They fight tooth and nail to stop any modifications that would release God from the limits they impose, even when all the facts argue against those limits. In that respect, Marxist practice and religious practice resemble each other closely. Conflicts Between Science and Religion: Which Side Wins? Over the centuries many conflicts have arisen between religious purists and scientists who had the effrontery to state facts and explanations that contradicted then-current religious dogma. In every case, the religious purists eventually lost and the scientists won. Few creationists today feel comfortable arguing that the world is flat or that all celestial bodies revolve around the earth (although some still do), because the plain facts are now seen to be otherwise. All the biblical texts that support the older creationist dogma are now either ignored or reinterpreted to release God from the constraints that the religious purists once contended were crucial to a correct theology. Those fighting a rear-guard action against evolution now are in exactly the same position as were the religious purists who once insisted that the world was flat. Most people now see that today's attempt to set limits on God's options is just as foolish as the attempts that preceded it. When enough time has passed, today's creationists will be seen in the same light as their counterparts from the past. Holy Week: How Should We Honor Jesus? This week is the perfect time to step back from religious minutia and arcane theological dogma and to think instead about the bigger picture of Jesus' life and teaching. Instead of trying to push God into a restrictive human-created mold, let's think about how to live our lives in decent and honorable ways. What a great time to reread and ponder the Sermon on the Mount! Been There
moots	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:49 AM BT,   One thing I admire about you - you never do anything halfway.  You always come out with a posse of arguments armed to the teeth.   First off, it's always nice to be lumped with flat-earthers, although I can't say I've ever met any or ever read anything one of them wrote.  Are you sure they're still out in the woods?   Secondly, your are correct about Marxism and religion.  The late Christain philosopher Francis Schaeffer viewed Marxism something of a Christian heresy.  He posited that it could only have arisen from what he termed a "Christian" consensus - a worldview that places value on the poor, oppressed and seeks social justice and equity for all.  Communism perverted "what is mine is yours" to "what is yours is mine".  By seeking to eradicate the knowledge of God from its society, communism hastened its own demise.  Where there is no sense of being accountable, nobody is his brother's keeper.  This  legacy still lives on in the former Soviet bloc.   I don't view myself as fighting a rear guard action against evolution.  I'm comfortable with my belief in a personal creation of an earth (probably with geologic age, as I imagine the trees would have had growth rings and as Adam was created a grown man.)  I find it interesting that that view cannot be admitted by the scientific establishment as a possibility - but if I am correct, the truth will "out" and I suspect that the arguments that will arise from information theory will ultimately consign Darwinism to the same landfill that holds Marxism.   Now having said that, I will claim no extrordinary credentials or competence in this field, and may decline to offer further resistance.  I may have to resort to public humiliation like that poor stammering, red-faced general whatsisname who was Ross Perot's running mate, when he debated Gore and Quayle -  all he could say at times was " I'm outta ammunition".   I think you would do even better to ponder the cross.   Icannot live the sermon on the mount, only Christ within me. "I" must die.   moots
moots	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 12:01 PM One more thought - the "religious purists" during much of western history were entrenched clerics,  the academicions of the day.  Most piled high and deep types don't like to see themselves in them, but the resemblance can be striking at times.
Been There	Murdering Prisoners Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:29 PM Tom Friedman wrote an excellent piece today contrasting the policies the Bush adminstration toward prisoners with that of George Washington: George W. to George W. But killing prisoners of war, presumably in the act of torture, is an inexcusable outrage. The fact that Congress has just shrugged this off, and no senior official or officer has been fired, is a travesty. This administration is for "ownership" of everything except responsibility. President Bush just appointed Karen Hughes, his former media adviser, to head up yet another U.S. campaign to improve America's image in the Arab world. I have a suggestion: Just find out who were the cabinet, C.I.A. and military officers on whose watch these 26 homicides occurred and fire them. That will do more to improve America's image in the Arab-Muslim world than any ad campaign, which will be useless if this sort of prisoner abuse is shrugged off. Republicans in Congress went into overdrive to protect the sanctity of Terri Schiavo's life. But they were mute when it came to the sanctity of life for prisoners in our custody. Such hypocrisy is not going to win any P.R. battles. Embedded in this quote is the best description of George W. Bush's presidency that I have ever seen: This administration is for "ownership" of everything except responsibility. That sums it up perfectly.   Been There
Been There	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:49 PM Moots, The reason that I "come out with a posse of arguments" is that I (try to) have some reasonable basis for my opinions. When someone differs with me, I then trot out that basis so I can find out what, if anything, is wrong with it.   It is indeed perfectly possible that God created the world on February 2, 2000 with all tree rings, artifacts, and human memories in place. So far as I know, no scientist disputes that possibility. But why should that possibility stop us from looking for the truth about what exists now? Yes, creationists are still around. They include geo-centrists and flat-earthers. Excerpts from printed information (ca. 1996):   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Flat Earth Research Society known as FLAT EARTH SOCIETY Charles K. Johnson, President Marjory Waugh Johnson, Sec. Telephone: (805) 727-1635 PO Box 2533, Lancaster, CA 93539 Aim: To carefully observe, think freely rediscove forgotten fact and oppose theoretical dogmatic assumptions. To help establish the United States...of the the world on this flat earth. Replace the science religion...with SANITY   The International Flat Earth Society is the oldest continuous Society existing on the world today. It began with the Creation of the Creation. First the water...the face of the deep...without form or limits...just Water. Then the Land sitting in and on the Water, the Water then as now being flat and level, as is the very Nature of Water. There are, of course, mountains and valleys on the Land but since most of the World is Water, we say, "The World is Flat."   Historical accounts and spoken history tell us the Land part may have been square, all in one mass at one time, then as now, the magnetic north being the Center. Vast cataclysmic events and shaking no doubt broke the land apart, divided the Land to be our present continents or islands as they exist today. One thing we know for sure about this world...the known inhabited world is Flat, Level, a Plain World.   We maintain that what is called 'Science' today and 'scientists' consist of the same old gang of witch doctors, sorcerers, tellers of tales, the 'Priest-Entertainers' for the common people. 'Science' consists of a weird, way-out occult concoction of jibberish theory-theology...unrelated to the real world of facts, technology and inventions, tall buildings and fast cars, airplanes and other Real and Good things in life; technology is not in any way related to the web of idiotic scientific theory. ALL inventors have been anti-science. The Wright brothers said: "Science theory held us up for years. When we threw out all science, started from experiment and experience, then we invented the airplane." By the way, airplanes all fly level on this Plane earth.   Our Society of Zetetics have existed for at least 6,000 years, the extent of recorded history. Extensive writing from 1492 b.c. We have been and are the Few, the Elite, the Elect, who use Logic Reason are Rational. Summed up, we are Sane and/ or have Common Sense as contrasted to the "herd" who is unthinking and uncaring... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Regardless of the "scientific" arguments they give, the actual basis for creationist beliefs is, of course, the bible: The Flat-Earth Bible. At the 1984 National Bible-Science Conference in Cleveland, geocentrist James N. Hanson told me there are hundreds of scriptures that suggest the earth is immovable. I suspect some must be a bit vague, but here are a few obvious texts: 1 Chronicles 16:30: "He has fixed the earth firm, immovable." Psalm 93:1: "Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm ..." Psalm 96:10: "He has fixed the earth firm, immovable ..." Psalm 104:5: "Thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken." Isaiah 45:18: "...who made the earth and fashioned it, and himself fixed it fast..." Suffice to say that the earth envisioned by flat-earthers is as immovable as any geocentrist could desire. Most (perhaps all) scriptures commonly cited by geocentrists have also been cited by flat-earthers. The flat-earth view is geocentricity with further restrictions. Like geocentrists, flat-earth advocates often give long lists of texts. Samuel Birley Rowbotham, founder of the modern flat-earth movement, cited 76 scriptures in the last chapter of his monumental second edition of Earth not a Globe. Apostle Anton Darms, assistant to the Reverend Wilbur Glenn Voliva, America's best known flat-earther, compiled 50 questions about the creation and the shape of the earth, bolstering his answers with up to 20 scriptures each. Although it is entertaining to read the "scientific" creationist arguments against obvious facts, it is disconcerting to note that many Americans today actually accept parallel arguments of exactly the same type and quality against evolution. Been There
moots	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 2:58 PM BT,   I don't think serious creationists ask anyone to believe their arguments on the basis of scripture.  Their critiques of evolutionary theory are based on the same data and phenomena that are available to everyone.   The vehement reaction that this challenge evokes from the evolutionists, who rarely can resist resorting to ridicule and mockery (possibly to cow the wavering masses back into line) however, makes me suspect that someone in the palace knows the emperor is wearing no clothes.   moots
moots	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 5:35 PM BT & CJ,   This is one of the books that I've started reading and haven't finished because my ritolin doesn't work that long, but you may find it of interest.   Not by Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution by Lee M. Spetner   If you check it out on Amazon.com you can read some lengthy reviews and get a feel for it.  It deals primarily with number theory and information, to which I have alluded and he does a much better job presenting his case than I can.   moots
Cousin Jack	Science in the News Posted: Thursday, March 24, 2005 5:41 PM Wow...Flat-Earthers are still around? One woulda thunk that after the Christmas '68 photos of earth taken by Apollo 8 astronauts were broadcast live on television all Flat-Earthers might've given up on such an improbable premise. Either they are skeptical about some of the things shown on tv (not an unwise approach) or they believe that space is 2 dimensional. If it's the latter, they may have inherited a rare recessive gene for mono-vision and should be examined by an accredited opthamologist at their nearest convenience.   Well, best stop here and leave something for L2 to wisecrack about or I'll be curling up in the doghouse again.   Cheers, CJ
look2it	Science in the News Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 1:00 AM BT, I notice that mootsie ignored the bible verses that say the earth stands still. mootsie, are you counting on that book you're reading to tell you what your reasons should be? CJ, I think they say that those photos and trips to the moon were faked by Hollywood. I love the Genghis Blues. G'night.
Cousin Jack	Science in the News Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 3:30 AM Multi-harmonic throat-singing? Yeah, I think I could find a way to love that too...   G'Night, CJ
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:20 AM Will tomorrow be the day we learn the leaders of the new government of Iraq? I certainly hope so. They've got much to attend to: Attacks Kill 9 Policemen and 5 Women in Iraq. A suicide car bomber killed at least nine Iraqi policemen at a checkpoint west of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry spokesman said today. The attack, on Thursday evening in Ramadi, about 70 west of the capital, wounded nine other policemen, the ministry said. In southern Baghdad, unidentified attackers killed five women as they drove home after finishing work at a United States military base late Thursday, an Interior Ministry official said. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,280 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 694 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Science in the News Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:22 AM What do you know? Science news just keeps coming: Dinosaur Find Takes Scientists Beyond Bones. But now a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex discovered in Montana has apparently yielded the improbable, scientists reported yesterday: soft tissues, including blood vessels and possibly cells lining them, that "retain some of their original flexibility, elasticity and resilience." Moreover, an examination with a scanning electron microscope showed the dinosaur's blood vessels to be "virtually indistinguishable" from those recovered from ostrich bones. The ostrich is today's largest bird, and many paleontologists think birds are living descendants of some dinosaurs. Could it be that this discovery is just another example of something hidden by God at creation to lure unsuspecting scientists down the path of error? Somehow I don't think so. Been There
Been There	Denying One's Faith Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:27 AM Moots, You wrote: I don't think serious creationists ask anyone to believe their arguments on the basis of scripture. Their critiques of evolutionary theory are based on the same data and phenomena that are available to everyone. Please be honest, Moots. Creationists, serious or otherwise, come to their beliefs on religious grounds, not after a careful, open-minded examination of "the same data and phenomena that are available to everyone." Creationists devise "scientific" arguments after the fact to support conclusions they already hold as a matter of faith. Creationist Reasoning Beginning with a religious belief that limits God's power and ability, creationist reasoning goes like this: My religion does not permit God to use evolution to develop new species. Therefore the science that supports evolution is incorrect. Therefore some argument against that science must exist to refute it. Maybe this new book will contain it. I've had long discussions about creationism with several people, including one member of my (extended) family, and every one of them has agreed that their opposition to evolution was based first on religion, not on scientific investigation. Twice I've read creationist books, carefully and with an open mind, that people (including one from my family member) presented to me as refutations of evolution. Neither book came close. Let's Make a Deal When you finish the book by Lee Spetner, tell me if you sincerely believe that it refutes evolution. If so, I will buy it and read it if you agree: To discuss the substance of Spetner's book with me on these boards. To obtain, read, and discuss with me on these boards an opposing book of my choosing. Off the top of my head I don't know what the second book would be yet, but I'll scout around for a reasonable (and not too boring) choice. Denying One's Faith Good Friday is the perfect time to think about what "scientific" creationists are willing to do. Instead of proclaiming their faith honestly, they are happy to deny it, swearing up and down that they've drawn their conclusions based on science, not on faith. I wonder if they think of Peter whenever they do so. And to what purpose do they deny their faith? To sneak the teaching of their religious beliefs into the public schools. Let me ask you, Moots: is that a sufficient reason to deny one's faith? Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:28 AM "You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002
moots	Science in the News Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 11:31 AM Sounds like that old boy might be a tad younger that 70 million, don't it?
Been There	Science in the News Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 12:33 PM Moots,   How much younger? And on what basis?   Been There
moots	No way, Jose. Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 12:36 PM BT,   Sorry, no deal.   I don't have the time, interest or energy to go to the mat with you.  You are a better debater than I am and are very adroit at characterizing me in the most irritating and ridiculous terms, which probably doesn't take much.  If you care to read Spetner's book that is fine.  It occurred to me that you might respect his approach.  If not that's fine too.  I really don't know why I even bother challenging you on anything at all.  I notice that you don't get many takers besides CJ.   When am I going to learn?  Life is hard, but life is hardest when you're dumb.   I guess I'll go hide out in the woods.  Dunno if I'll be back.   moots
Been There	No way, Jose. Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 1:26 PM Moots,   Come on, if you tell me that you honestly came to your position on evolution after a careful study of "the same data and phenomena that are available to everyone" instead of looking for evidence to support your existing religious beliefs, I will accept that. It's just that, in my experience you would be unique in doing so.   It seemed to me that if you had really come at it first from an open-minded scientific viewpoint, you'd be more willing to discuss the results of your study in a straightforward way. But I don't want to characterize you wrongly (and ridiculously so) as someone who follows the reasoning pattern I've seen from other creationists.   I'm not debating here. I'm just saying what I honestly think--and why--even when it differs from what others think. What could be the harm in your doing the same?   No need to hide out in the woods. Nor are you dumb, and you know I know that too.   Been There
Cousin Jack	No way, Jose. Posted: Friday, March 25, 2005 1:57 PM Not so fast into the woods, Moots. I had a chance to scan the review of Spetner's book at Amazon this morning and it looks very interesting but it'll take a lot more reading on my part to fully understand his critiques. I notice he got support from the well respected Lynn Margulis though who has some fascinating theories about microbial symbiogenesis.  As I said before, I've thought for some time now that there are aspects of evolution (especially macro-evolution) that are still quite problematic. The scientific battle seems to be between those who believe random mutations can account for everything that's happened in evolution and those who think there's more going on than just random mutations (which is what I think may be the case)  And yes, there are dogmatists in science just as there are in religion. It's more of an authoritarian personality type than anything else I'd venture and you can find them in pretty much any field on the planet Earth. As for this cat, I just follow where my curiosity leads and it hasn't killed me yet. The truth of it all will be whatever it turns out to be. When I get a rainy day chance I'll delve into Spetner's book at Amazon and get back to you both on what I think but I'm spending the rest of today outdoors as the sun is shining and I've got some free time on my hands.        CJ
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Saturday, March 26, 2005 10:05 AM Will today be the day we learn the identities of Iraq's new leaders? If so, it will be welcome news: Car Bomb Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq; U.S. Marine Also Killed. A car bomb struck a U.S. military patrol Saturday in the Iraqi capital, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring two others, and a Marine died in action in a restive central province, the military said. Earlier military officials said they had discovered a 600-foot tunnel leading out of the main prison facility for detainees in Iraq. No one had escaped, said an Army spokeswoman, Maj. Flora Lee. She did not know when guards discovered the tunnel. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,281 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 695 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Saturday, March 26, 2005 10:16 AM "Dick Cheney and I do not want this nation to be in a recession. We want anybody who can find work to be able to find work." —George W. Bush, 60 Minutes II, Dec. 5, 2000
Been There	Upon Further Review Posted: Saturday, March 26, 2005 10:19 AM Because of Moots' negative reaction to my recent posts on evolution, I submitted them to an impartial expert on the subject of my capacity to irritate. The findings are now in, and she sided 100% with Moots. Even more confounding was her retort to my statement that, if the shoe were on the other foot, I would not find my posts irritating: she considers that fact itself to be reasonable cause for irritation. Because this is a family-oriented web site, I won't go into detail about the rest of her observations on the matter. I ask readers, and especially Moots, to forgive my clumsy attempts to be thought-provoking and interesting. People are infinitely more important than my writing vivid posts, and I truly care about my friends, neighbors, and community. Contrary to the impression my recent posts might have given, I respect Moots immensely. Despite our differences, I see him as a man of intelligence and fine character. I deeply regret that what I've written could be taken to suggest otherwise. I shall do better. Been There
look2it	Upon Further Review Posted: Sunday, March 27, 2005 12:52 AM BT, she sounds like a strong person, someone you need.  Didn't think your posts were that bad, but maybe you struck a nerve with the Peter thing. I think most would even admit that is the way they reason though. CJ, I didn't know a thing about throatsinging until I rented the documentary about Paul Pena, then it blew me away. G'night.
Been There	Upon Further Review Posted: Sunday, March 27, 2005 10:39 AM Look2It, True, I know I'm fortunate that she still puts up with me after all these years. Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Sunday, March 27, 2005 10:42 AM Saturday has come and gone and we still don't know who will lead the new Iraqi government. Exactly eight weeks have passed since the elections there. In a development that should surprise no one, young people today avoid signing up to die for President Bush's blunders: For Army Recruiters, a Hard Toll From a Hard Sell. The careers and self-esteem of recruiters rise and fall on their ability to fulfill a mission, said current and former Army officials and military experts who were also interviewed. Recruiters said falling short often generates a barrage of angry correspondence, formal reprimands, threats or even demotion. "The recruiter is stuck in the situation where you're not going to make mission, it just won't happen," the New York recruiter said. "And you're getting chewed out every day for it. It's horrible." He said the assignment was more strenuous than the time he was shot at while deployed in Africa. At least 37 members of the Army Recruiting Command, which oversees enlistment, have gone AWOL since October 2002, Army figures show. And, in what recruiters consider another sign of stress, the number of improprieties committed - signing up unqualified people to meet quotas or giving bonuses or other enlistment benefits to recruits not eligible for them - has increased, Army documents show. You must be a top soldier in the first place to become a recruiter, but that doesn't prevent you from taking the blame when you can't persuade young people to join the military as misused by the Bush administration: Now, instead of serving 20 years in the Army, he intends to leave in December, when his tour ends. "There's a deep human connection when you try to persuade someone to do something you've done," he said. "So when it turns into something else - maybe even the opposite - it's difficult." We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,282 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 696 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Sunday, March 27, 2005 10:44 AM "More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than - I say more Muslims - a lot of Muslims have died - I don't know the exact count - at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 28, 2005 12:45 AM Had a glorious Easter with family! Hoping you did too. The Muslims should learn to stay clear of Istanbul though, I guess.  What goes thru his head? G'night.
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Monday, March 28, 2005 8:42 AM "They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." —George W. Bush, St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Monday, March 28, 2005 5:49 PM Into the ninth week after the Iraq elections, the politicians there still dither: Iraqi Parties Still Lack Consensus as Violence Continues. As the 275-member assembly prepared to hold its second meeting, more than two months after general elections, it appeared that the top politicians had failed to reach any deal to install a government. At best, the assembly is expected to name a speaker and two vice-speakers, said Adnan Pachachi, a leading Sunni Arab politician. But even that looked doubtful on Monday afternoon. ... Attacks flared across Baghdad and elsewhere late Sunday and today. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed into a checkpoint in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad, on Sunday evening, killing two police officers and injuring five people, police officials in the southern town of Karbala said. In that same area, gunmen opened fire this morning on Shiite pilgrims in the town of Yusufiya, killing three of them, a hospital official in Baghdad said. The region where those attacks took place is called the Triangle of Death, because Iraqi security forces and Shiite Arabs have been killed regularly there by Sunni Arab insurgents and criminal gangs. Back home, corporate America thumbs its collective nose at our soldiers fighting overseas: Creditors Make Illegal Demands on Active-Duty Soldiers. Court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce. Some cases involve nationally prominent companies like Wells Fargo and Citigroup. The article describes the real-life horror stories of military families caught in financial straits because a breadwinner has been ordered to Iraq. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,283 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 697 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 1:16 AM Guess someone told Dubya the SSI is a federal program after all. Can't have that. Better think up some new subject to get people going again, BT. G'night.
Been There	Interesting Subjects Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 10:19 AM Look2It, No need for concern--there's nothing you or I can do about it. People don't post because they have nothing to say.  I'm seldom in that position, and you likewise. Been There
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 10:21 AM More than eight weeks after the Iraq election, the situation there remains the same: Violence Reigns, Government Hides. "You can say we are in a crisis," Barham Salih, a leading Kurdish politician, told reporters. Ahead of the meeting mortar blasts echoed across central Baghdad and a militant group said in an Internet statement that it had fired four mortars into the fortified Green Zone where politicians were meeting. There were no reports of damage. Two months after more than eight million Iraqis braved suicide bombers and insurgent threats to vote in the Jan. 30 polls, many are increasingly angry that despite intensive haggling no agreement has been reached on forming a government. Meanwhile, the Sunnis have begun to speak up: Sunni Leader Insists on Timetable for U.S. Withdrawal. Attired in the headdress and robes of a tribal leader, Mr. Dari is a daunting presence. He rarely smiles, and speaks softly, in brief decisive phrases. Resisting foreign occupation runs in his blood. His grandfather, Sheik Dari al-Mahmoud, is said to have sparked the Sunni phase of the rebellion against the British in 1920 by killing a British officer near Falluja. He joined the rebellion, which had begun with Shiites in the south, and fought in it until he was captured and imprisoned in 1927. Harith al-Dari has been viewed as a dangerous man by the American military in Iraq. Over the past year, military officials have said they suspected that Mr. Dari was involved in fomenting resistance against American troops in Falluja and even in the kidnappings of Westerners. His house in Khan Dari, a village west of Baghdad, has been raided repeatedly by American military teams. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,284 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 698 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 10:26 AM "This is historic times." —George W. Bush, New York, N.Y., April 20, 2004
look2it	What a fine day Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 1:34 AM Singular times anyway.   Had my first swim today, but still a little chilly. Think I'll wait a couple more weeks before going back. G'night.
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 9:59 AM The two-month delay in establishing the new government of Iraq will cause a six-month delay in writing a constitution and holding more elections: Delay Possible on Iraq Charter as Talks Falter. A meeting of the Iraqi national assembly fell apart along ethnic and sectarian lines Tuesday after members began hurling angry accusations over the failure to form a government, and some leaders said the delay could push back a constitution and elections by half a year. How many more delays will occur before this is resolved? One thing for sure: there are no delays in additional violence there. In Kirkuk, a bomb explosion on a road wounded 16 people on Tuesday, police officials said. The attack took place as the 41-member provincial council met to try to appoint a provincial government. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,285 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." 699 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 10:02 AM "The illiteracy level of our children are appalling." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004   Yes, Look2It, you've got your singular and your plural, but how can a guy figure out which to use where?   Been There
moots	Upon Further Review Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 12:29 PM BT,   Sounds like you have a good wife, as I do.  On the capacity to irritate, I have not often been accused of being overly tactful and discreet, and what one says in the heat of competition...   Thank you for your kind words, but don't butter me up too much.  Might go to my head.   Communication is ultimately impossible without trust.  I like the metaphor of a kitchen table, for it implies that we are among friends.  Friends needle and give each other s---, but we tend to give our friends the benefit of the doubt, even when they express what we consider outrageous or ridiculous opinions.  We all have our blind spots, and none of us is  finished piece of work.   On the subject of persuasion and convincing, I have recently been thinking about the resurrection.  For those of you who may consider a metaphor, please bear with me.  If Christ truly rose from the dead (which I believe),  is it not strange that he did not lay any question of it to rest long ago.  He could have appeared to Pilate, the Sanhedrin, to the Roman emporer, to the whole world, if he truly is God.   Instead we have the record that he appeared to about 500 of his disciples.  This begs the question why?    I would submit at least two possibilites   1.  That it did not happen - but this still leaves us with the problem that apparently a great number of people were convinced that He in fact did rise, and were willing to suffer torture and death affirming that.   2.  That God does not force us to believe.  He does not paint us into a corner with incontrovertible evidence and extract an unwilling confession from us.  The Sanhedrin would have no doubt been shocked and overwhelmed at the sight of a risen Christ, but it would in no way have convinced them that he loved them and died for them.   This thought first occurred to me when I responded to CJ's lengthy posting last year - the idea of God "underwhelming us".   I'm not saying this to reopen a discussion about Christ or faith (although I'm comfortable with that) but to offer it a paradigm for these postings.   It is easy to adopt the "presidential debate" format, which is about as antithetical to communication as you can go.  There is perhaps a time and place for that at election time, but I don't think it is a good medium for persuasion.  I find my competitiveness rising, and my efforts quickly become focussed on trying to force my opponent into an untenable position, or in defending something that he perhaps didn't really say.  We don't become comfortable with ideas that might be perhaps new, if we are not allowed the space to consider them and reflect on them.   When I find myself being painted into a corner, I get a kind of claustrophobic feeling - my thoughts go fuzzy, my temper rises and I'm ready to throw a punch or bolt for the door.  I imagine that's a common feeling.   Finally regarding Spetner, I haven't finished reading him (he is number cruncher and not a light read) but I did jump ahead to the end of the book to see where he was heading.  If I have understood him correctly (and that's a big if) he proposes what he calls a non-random theory of evolution. He suggests that the mechanism that drives it is not natural selection (I'm not 100% sure if that is his point), but rather the needs of the organism - and that the genetic information that changes the morphology of the organism is pre-existing, already contained withing the DNA or other sources, and that it is somehow turned on, perhaps by environmental factors.   He follows a rationale demonstrating the mathematical likelihood of genetic information being produced within a population in a series of steps, which if his math is correct, leads to astronomical numbers arguing against the formation of information by chance.  His arguments in no way prove that anything was created, he presents it as is essentially an agnostic theory, and he, unlike conservative biblical creationists,  does not hold to a  young earth theory.   Those are my preliminary impressions, which I am unable to debate at this time.   The old saying "figures don't lie, but liars can figure" must be remembered with all the numbers he gives, but if his arguments are as persuasive (conclusive?!) as they seem to be, this may require a major overhaul of evolutionary theory, and perhaps some common ground between traditional evolutionists and conservative creationists.   I would like to respond in a non-combative way to a question you raised, BT - about how I have arrived at my views.  I would suggest that I have arrived at them in the way we all do - we are told or read things from sources we consider authoritative.  In my case, the authority I trust above others are the Scriptures.  I am not unaware of some of the problems that a literal understanding of them brings.  I have read a great deal in the natural sciences and geology and astronomy are two areas that have given me much food for thought.  I see the puddingstone at Brockway mountain, interbedded between basaltic flows, and spend a lot of time sitting on sandstone in my favorite place on Lake Superior.  I mull over these things frequently.  I have read the speculations of geologists about how it all came to be - all the cratons moving about, magnetic fields reversing, etc. but I wonder what can truly be known.  I ponder what time means to God and what geologic phenomena were present at creation and at the flood (yes, I believe that too, please don't smile) that perhaps have never been observed.  There are many things that we do not know, and perhaps there are even more things that we cannot know.   moots
nm420	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 12:31 PM Seeing as the man is so keen on the virtues of standardized testing, maybe we should enforce such an exam for our elected representatives. Of all the people making important decisions affecting lives around the globe, you would hope these guys be able to pass the SAT or GRE or some other such proficiency exam. Yet I'm willing to bet that the president would fail practically any exam thrown at him. Perhaps he would be better serving our nation working in a diner somewhere.
moots	What a fine day Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 2:36 PM L2,   You really went swimming?  I doff my cap to you.  Did you do it from a hot sauna or cold turkey?  We have a dunk tank in the spring next to our sauna that is around 40 degrees year round, but it's just a short scamper back into the heat room.   moots
moots	Upon Further Review Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 4:20 PM  I would like to offer a critique/amplification of my own statement before anyone else has a chance to jump on it,  because I suspect it may be a red herring of sorts and sound like a dodge   I would suggest that I have arrived at them in the way we all do - we are told or read things from sources we consider authoritative.   I realize that we arrive at many of our views through experience, critical thinking and research.  But undergirding all of this is the continual evaluation and application of what and whom we deem authoritative and trustworthy.  Christians are perhaps rightly criticized for being closed-minded to evidence which would seem to challenge their entire world view, but perhaps that at least in part stems from a trust in Someone greater than our senses and mental faculties, and in my view, a recognition of the limitations of human intellect as a vehicle for apprehending truth.  I suspect one of the old guys said, or should have said, that the mind is the handmaiden of faith.  I am not suggesting that there is no place for critical thinking, but there comes a time when we find ourselves walking on holy ground where wisdom may only be expressed by silence.   Is this a fair answer?   moots
Cousin Jack	Upon Further Review Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 12:37 AM Inspired post, Moots! It's not hard to understand why you're a writer and a good one.   A couple of quick points on the "Resurrection" as I'm short on time again. The primal schism of early Christianity was over the meaning of Jesus's "Resurrection". I highly recommend reading the first chapter of Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels as it's the best overview of this debate I've read. In the end, the orthodox viewpoint (bodily resurrection) won out over the Gnostic viewpoints (variations on the idea of spiritual resurrection later labeled as "heretical" by the ) thus guaranteeing the Apostolic Succession of the institutional church and all the political machinations that went with it. It was specifically stated with regards to the bodily resurrection that the early church father Tertullian famously observed "it must be believed, because it is absurd!" The gnostics were interested in experiencing Christ's "presence" in the present and in being "resurrected" themselves while still alive and they attributed their many original creative writings to the idea that their individual "resurrections" had made them spiritually alive. In the Gospel of Mary, for example, the resurrection appearances of Jesus are interpreted as "visions received in dreams or in ecstatic trance". The Gospel of Philip declares "Those who say that the LORD died first and then rose up are in error for he rose up first and then he died." Philip was drawing on the Jewish apocalyptic literature of "mystical ascent" (a kind of Jewish "Vision Quest"  or "Hero Journey" if you will) as recounted in such Dead Sea Scolls as 1 Enoch, and thus argued that this "spiritual resurrection" (or "mystical ascent" to the Throne of God) actually preceded Jesus's ministry, a "resurrection" that led his reform ministry into the dangerous revolutionary territory it evidently became for the religious hierarchy of the Jerusalem Temple (if we are to believe the canonical gospel accounts). Just for the record, I long ago sided with the gnostic allegorical and symbolic descriptions of Jesus's "resurrection" in part because they are not "absurd". It just makes so much more sense to me when compared with other religious traditions all around the world. On the other hand, I don't rule out the additional possibility of a seemingly miraculous "resuscitation" of Jesus from near-death (not an uncommon occurrence even today) to account for the eyewitness reports of his appearances in Galilee. This is all assuming, of course, that the "Jesus of Nazareth" as described in the canonical gospels actually existed (an historical existence on far shakier ground than very few if any christian apologists will ever admit as I pointed out in my long post last fall). Once again, I highly recommend reading Elaine Pagel's The Gnostic Gospels 1st chapter (as well as the whole book) as it will walk you through all the aspects early Christianity's fundamental schism and explain its historical ramifications for the emerging church.   On another note, former Republican Senator (and Episcopalian minister) John Danforth wrote an excellent op-ed in today's NY Times that addresses the very issue (the rising theocratic ambitions of (primarily) southern culture republicans) which I mentioned last fall as a primary factor in my voting for John Kerry.   The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone so far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement. When government becomes the means of carrying out a religious program, it raises obvious questions under the First Amendment. But even in the absence of constitutional issues, a political party should resist identification with a religious movement. While religions are free to advocate for their own sectarian causes, the work of government and those who engage in it is to hold together as one people a very diverse country. At its best, religion can be a uniting influence, but in practice, nothing is more divisive. For politicians to advance the cause of one religious group is often to oppose the cause of another.   Our current fixation on a religious agenda has turned us in the wrong direction. It is time for Republicans to rediscover our roots.   Thank you, John Danforth.   CJ   ps: speaking of "apocalyptic", did anyone else notice that the two big Sumatran earthquakes occurred on the day after Christmas (9.1) and the day after Easter (8.7)? This is one of those eerie similarities where I find sweet comfort in the scientific idea of  "statistical coincidence".
look2it	What a fine day Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 1:30 AM mootsie, I did indeed, and sauna of course. Temperatures stay like this and it soon will be me swimming every day. Wish mine was just a short scamper back though! G'night.
moots	Upon Further Review Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 9:59 AM CJ,   You're posts are always a handfull because you often quote from sources that I have never heard of, which I suppose I should be familiar with.  I'll see if I can get ahold of a copy of The Gnostic Gospels, so at least I could make some observations on it.  I don't know if I would put it like Tertullian did, but I suppose Paul says as much in his letters.  The resurrection gets stuck in our throats if all we have to go on is experience and empirical reasoning.  Again, it may seem outrageous and bordering intellectual suicide to consider that our rationale minds may not be capable of apprehending Truth, with a big T, but that I suspect is what Tertullian meant.   Perhaps the only thing that can give us the ability to put our rational intellect in our back pockets and stepping out on the water is the conviction that Someone who loves us and will not let us down, bids us to do so.  Love is a power that gets through our intellectual defenses.  I don't think it can be explained rationally, and I don't think we can convince someone that we love them using logic - but it is something that we can experience as long as we do not choose to disbelieve its expressions.    Here's a thought that just came to me: We cannot experience love unless we believe we are loved.   moots
Been There	The Iraq War Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:44 AM Exactly 700 days ago, President George W. Bush donned donned a flight suit, strapped into a jet, and rocketed off into the wild blue yonder for the not-so-long journey to the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was anchored at San Diego. The occasion for Bush's 30-mile flight was his triumphant "mission accomplished" speech.   Set against that bit of theater are today's headlines: Bombers Kill 8 in Iraq; American Is Kidnapped; 2 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Action. The explosion in Tuz Khormato, 55 miles south of Kirkuk, injured at least 16 people, including eight soldiers, said Sarhad Qader, a police official. The blast occurred near an Iraqi Army checkpoint guarding a Shiite shrine where pilgrims had gathered to celebrate a major religious festival. In Samarra, north of Baghdad, another suicide car bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the city center, said police official Qassim Omar. Dr. Alaa Al-Deen Mohammed of the city hospital said at least 15 people were injured. The attacks came as the U.S. military announced that two American soldiers died in separate clashes Wednesday. One soldier died from injuries after a clash in northern Mosul. The soldier was among several people injured after soldiers tried to conduct a routine check of a taxi, Lt. Col. Andre Lance said. The taxi's passengers opened fire on the soldiers, and they shot back, killing the assailants and causing the taxi to explode. Officials believe it was carrying explosives. Another soldier was killed when his patrol came under fire in Baghdad, the military said. The gunmen disappeared into a nearby crowd, but five suspects were later detained. As of Wednesday, at least 1,529 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. We all evaluate facts in the light of their context and the principles we deem important. From my perspective, the following facts underscore some important truths: 1,286 days have now passed since since September 17, 2001, when President Bush pledged to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." Exactly 700 days have now passed since May 1, 2003, when President Bush made his Iraq "mission accomplished" speech. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:46 AM Nm420, Rich frat boys don't need to work in diners, so they get to spend lots of time on vacation. The basic intent of the emphasis on standardized testing in schools is to provide a strong incentive to push out students who don't score well on such tests, thereby reducing the taxes required to support the school system. That was the practice in Texas when Bush was in charge, and is now the national policy as well. Been There
Been There	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:48 AM "So community colleges are accessible, they're available, they're affordable, and their curriculums don't get stuck. In other words, if there's a need for a certain kind of worker, I presume your curriculums evolved over time." —George W. Bush, Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004
Been There	Upon Further Review Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:50 AM Cousin Jack, I noticed that Tony Blair commented on the religion-in-politics matter just a couple of days ago: Keep faith out of politics, says Blair. The prime minister, battered by Tory tabloid pressures on abortion, insisted: "I do not want to end up with an American-style of politics with us all going out there beating our chest about our faith. "Politics and religion - it is not that they do not have a lot in common, but if it ends up being used in the political process, I think that is a bit unhealthy." Perhaps more than "a bit" unhealthy. And no, I certainly had not noticed the earthquake date coincidences! Been There
Been There	Upon Further Review Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:55 AM Moots, I think you are too hard on yourself here: On the capacity to irritate, I have not often been accused of being overly tactful and discreet, and what one says in the heat of competition... While I see now that some of my posts have caused you unnecessary irritation, I don't recall that you have been other than tactful and discreet in your posts here. Therefore I can't attempt to justify my shortcomings as some kind of justified retaliation. No, I plainly got off course, as I do from time to time. One problem with this metaphorical kitchen table is that here I can't glance up occasionally to check for "that look" which warns me to try a different tack. As to "competition," I don't think of this as the kind of situation we faced as schoolboys--armed with stacks of cards containing facts and arguments for both sides of every proposition we might have to debate. That was competition, but here I'm armed only with the facts and arguments for my side of things. I'm trusting those who disagree with me--you, for instance--to provide their own counter-arguments and facts. Communication I think you hit the nail on the head here, Moots: Communication is ultimately impossible without trust. In fact, if someone lies to me, I can honestly say that we will never go back to where things were before. (Of course I don't take offense when people pay small social compliments that they don't really mean, although I don't do so myself, but I just can't abide lies on any matter of substance.) Authority Thinking back (a long way now) I can't ever remember a time, even as a small boy, when I believed that I owed any trust based on authority alone. I have no idea how a person can even go about believing something that does not ring true in the light of his or her experiences. In my (very personal) view, one's religious beliefs need not be in a position where they stand or fall on the basis of each new scientific theory or observation, and (say I) it is always a mistake to formulate them so. If one views God as the embodiment of all we don't yet know, then every new discovery inevitably diminishes God's role. By my lights, trust must be earned. I don't see any more reason to trust religious leaders in matters of science than I see to trust scientists in matters of religion. The fact that science has always been correct when past religious leaders have taken contrary views on matters of science carries weight with me. And quite properly so, I think. Spetner If the point of Spetner's book is simply that the mechanisms of evolution are not yet completely understood, then I have no argument. I don't know of anyone who has seriously suggested that the evolution of species is "random," though, so the idea of a "non-random theory of evolution" seems a bit superfluous. But perhaps someone somewhere has actually taken that view, prompting Spetner to write his book in response. Been There
look2it	Presidential Thought for the Day Posted: Friday, April 01, 2005 12:56 AM Lots of posts today. Hi, nm420! We're a friendly group, though we don't agree on everything. G'night.
Cousin Jack	Upon 4-Legged Forest Clouds the Cowboy Angel Rides Posted: Friday, April 01, 2005 3:43 AM Been There writes; I don't know of anyone who has seriously suggested that the evolution of species is "random," though, so the idea of a "non-random theory of evolution" seems a bit superfluous.   This tells us one thing. BT is not a biologist nor has he been paying much attention to the evolutionary debate over the past quarter-century.   Nor has he mentioned today's final WMD report. One quote, if I may:   The Commission found no evidence of political pressure to influence the Intelligence Community's pre-war assessments of Iraq's weapons programs. As we discuss in detail in the body of the report, analysts universally asserted that in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgements.   Could this mean that BT may not be the all-around expert on all issues newsworthy he pretends to be? Stay tuned!   Meanwhile, other interesting cultural matters arise. For those who missed that extraordinary 1978 BBC Radio Series The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, this upcoming movie will have to fill the nagging void. Opening April 29 in a theater near you. Puts Star Wars in cultural context just like a meadowlark on a cattail...   Cheers, CJ
moots	The Gospel According to Mark Posted: Friday, April 01, 2005 9:16 AM 1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.   2It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you,  who will prepare your way” 3“a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,  make straight paths for him.’ ” 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
moots	A question for you all. Posted: Friday, April 01, 2005 9:38 AM I'm kinda outta ammo, but I had a thought last night which I would like to pursue with your permission/compliance/acquiescence/shaddup and sit down, whatever.  Would any of you strongly object if I intermittently posted passages from the NT as sort of a spiritual leaven to these boards?  I think the gospel of Mark is a good source, inasmuch as he writes in short, brief sentences and gets to the point right away.  I would post these without comment because I don't want to come off as one of those street corner preachers shouting at the air around him.  It is not my intention to challenge or irritate anyone, or even necessarily open discussion on the Bible, but simply to inject as non-intrusively as possible something uplifting into our lives.  What sayest thou, gang?   moots   P. S.  At least this way I could read something in these posts  with which I can concur 100% other my own confused blathering, which is of dubiousl merit, at best.  These are taken from the NIV translation from a website I found this morning at  http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?book_id=48&chapter=1&version=31